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Mince Meat

A sweet and savory dish of chopped meat, apples, molasses, cider, raisins, and spices cooked slowly and preserved in jars.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and cider are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,238 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Mince Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Combine and cook

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large pot.

  2. Add the water that the meat was cooked in.

  3. Cook slowly over low heat until thoroughly cooked, stirring occasionally.

Store

  1. Seal in jars for storage.

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

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

  2. Vinegar + cidertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  3. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,577 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Apple + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,920 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Meat
Provides the main body and chewy texture of the mincemeat.
Apples
Add moisture and tartness, and soften into the filling as they cook.
Suet or butter
Adds richness and a smooth, moist mouthfeel.
Sugar
Provides sweetness and helps give the filling its body.
Molasses
Adds deep sweetness, dark colour and a rich, caramel-like flavour.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that balances the sweetness and sharpens the flavour.

The step that matters

Cook slowly over low heat, stirring occasionally. The mixture is rich in sugar and molasses, which can scorch on the bottom of the pot at high heat. Low heat and regular stirring cook it evenly and prevent burnt flavour.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, apple, molasses, vinegar, cider, butter, sugar):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Grapefits better
  3. Pearfits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, apple, molasses, vinegar, cider, butter, sugar. 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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