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Mince Meat

A preserved beef mixture with dried fruit, spices, and alcohol.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 19 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. Remove fat and skin from the beef, cover with boiling water, and simmer gently until tender.

  2. Let the meat cool in the cooking water, then chop it finely but not to a powder.

  3. Shred the suet and chop it finely.

  4. Pare, core, and chop the apples coarsely.

Combine and store

  1. Mix all dry ingredients with the meat and suet, then add the juice and grated rind from the lemons and oranges.

  2. Stir everything well together and pack the mixture into a stone jar.

  3. Pour the brandy, sherry, and cider over the mixture, cover tightly, and store in a cool place.

  4. For best flavor, prepare at least two weeks before use.

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

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  3. Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Cinnamon + macetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

Beef
Provides the meaty body of the mincemeat once cooked and finely chopped.
Beef suet
Adds richness and a moist, tender texture as it is finely distributed through the mixture.
Apples
Contribute moisture and tartness that balance the sweetness of the dried fruit.
Sugar
Sweetens the mixture and helps preserve it during long storage.
Brandy
Adds alcohol that helps preserve the mixture and contributes aroma.

The step that matters

Chopping the meat finely without reducing it to a powder. Meat chopped to a fine texture stays distinct and tender, while over-processing turns it pasty and dense, changing the mincemeat's mouthfeel.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, apple, raisin, lemon, currant, sugar, cinnamon):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Clovefits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, apple, raisin, lemon, currant, sugar, 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.

More mince meat recipes

Pie Filling 11Pie 10with Apples 9Preserved 8Apple 7Mock 7 See all 183 →

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