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Best Mince-meat

A sweet and savory minced meat dish with apples, molasses, cider, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 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 ↓

Best Mince-meat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and boil

  1. Grate the rind of the lemons and add the juice.

  2. Combine all ingredients except the meat and spices in a pot.

  3. Boil until the raisins are tender.

Add the meat and spices

  1. Add the meat and spices to the mixture.

  2. If using suet, scald it before adding.

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. Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

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

  3. Cider + curranttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together500 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

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

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

  5. Apple + curranttop 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

Chopped meat
Provides the savory, rich body that forms the bulk of the mincemeat.
Chopped apples
Add moisture, tartness and a soft texture that keeps the mixture cohesive.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and depth, and helps preserve the mixture's moisture.
Molasses
Adds dark color, deep sweetness and moisture to the mixture.
Raisins
Contribute chewy sweetness once softened by boiling.
Suet or butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, moist mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Boil until the raisins are tender. Raisins must soften fully during boiling, because undercooked raisins stay tough and do not blend into the mixture's texture.

Swap the raisin

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

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

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