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Mince Pies

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Mince Pies

Why it works: Currant and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,057 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Mince Pies

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Parboil the meat until tender, then let it cool and chop very fine.

  2. In a large bowl, mix the chopped meat with the chopped suet and salt.

  3. Add the chopped apples, raisins, currants, and citron to the mixture.

  4. Stir in the sugar, spices, orange zest, orange juice, rose water, white wine, and brandy.

  5. Mix all ingredients thoroughly.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Apple + orangetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,230 recipes

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

  3. Apple + white winetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together372 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  4. White wine + brandytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together620 recipes

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

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

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

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

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, apple, raisin, sugar, orange, white wine, brandy):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Apricotfits better
  3. Plumfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, apple, raisin, sugar, orange, white wine, brandy. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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