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Minxe Meat

A stew of finely chopped meat and apples cooked slowly with molasses, cider, sugar, spices, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Minxe Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Measure the meat and apples after chopping.

Cook

  1. In a large pot, combine the meat, apples, molasses, plain cider, boiled cider, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt.

  2. If desired, add chopped raisins, citron, and lemon.

  3. Cook slowly for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Apple + cidertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,238 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Meat
Provides the savoury, rich body that forms the bulk of the mincemeat.
Apples
Add moisture and tartness, balancing the sweetness of the sugar and molasses.
Molasses
Adds dark sweetness, depth of flavour and moisture.
Sugar
Sweetens the mixture and helps preserve it during long cooking.
Cider
Adds liquid and fruity acidity that softens the apples as they cook.

The step that matters

Cook slowly for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Low, slow heat lets the meat and apples soften and the liquids reduce into a thick mixture without scorching on the bottom of the pot. Regular stirring spreads heat evenly and prevents sticking.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, molasses, cider, sugar, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg):

  1. Raisinfits about as well
  2. Applethe original
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. Vanillafits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, molasses, cider, sugar, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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