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Mince Meat

A preserved meat mixture of beef, suet, dried fruit, sugar, molasses, brandy, wine, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,390 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Mince Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat and fruit

  1. Boil the meat until tender, then chop finely.

  2. Mix the chopped meat with suet, raisins, currants, and dried cherries.

Combine and jar

  1. Add the brown sugar, molasses, brandy, white wine, and spices, then stir well to combine all ingredients thoroughly.

  2. Pack the mixture into jars and seal tightly.

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. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  2. Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Brandy + white winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together620 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Suet
Adds fat that keeps the filling rich and moist.
Brown sugar
Provides sweetness and moisture to the filling.
Molasses
Adds deep, caramel-like sweetness and a darker color.
Raisins
Add sweetness and a chewy texture.
Brandy
Adds a warm aroma and boozy depth of flavor.
Cinnamon
Contributes a warm, sweet aroma to the spice blend.

The step that matters

Stir until evenly combined. Spices, sugar and liquids must be spread evenly through the meat and fruit. Under-mixed batches taste patchy, with some bites overly spiced and others bland.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, raisin, sugar, molasses, brandy, white wine, cinnamon):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Applefits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, raisin, sugar, molasses, brandy, white wine, cinnamon. 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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