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Mince Pie

A fruit and spice-filled beef mince pie baked in flaky pastry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 19 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and quince work together. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 506 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Mince Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the ingredients

  1. Cook and finely mince the beef.

  2. Chop the suet finely.

  3. Cook the quinces in the cider until soft.

  4. Chop the citron, lemon, and orange peel.

Make the mincemeat

  1. Mix all ingredients and cook slowly until the apples are soft.

  2. Add the brandy and wine last.

  3. Pack the mixture tightly in jars.

Assemble and bake

  1. Roll out half of the flaky pastry to ¼ inch thick and cover a pie pan.

  2. Fill the pie with the mince mixture, about ½ inch thick.

  3. Roll out the remaining pastry to ⅛ inch thick, fold over, and cut 2-3 slits.

  4. Cover the pie and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).

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 + quincetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together506 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  2. Currant + raisintop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Lemon + quincetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together336 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  5. Currant + appletop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,918 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

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

What each ingredient does

Lean beef
Provides the meaty body and bulk that gives the filling its substance.
Suet
Adds rich hard fat that keeps the filling moist and carries flavor.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps preserve the mixture.
Chopped apples
Contribute moisture and tartness, softening into the body of the filling.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness.
Currants
Add tart fruitiness and a chewy texture to the filling.

The step that matters

Cook the mixture slowly until the apples are soft. Slow cooking softens the apples evenly and lets the sugar, fruit and spices blend without scorching on the bottom of the pan.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Figfits better
  2. Pearfits better
  3. Plumfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, currant, apple, sugar, molasses, raisin, quince. 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 pie recipes

Mock 45Filling 14Lemon 8Fruit 5Patties 5Christmas 4 See all 109 →

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