Name: English Mincemeat
Ingredients: 1 lb raisins; 1 lb currants; 1 lb sugar; 1 lb finely chopped suet; 1 lb apples, peeled and chopped; 3 oz finely chopped almonds; 6 oz mixed peel; ¼ teaspoon salt; ⅓ cup cider or grape juice

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 ↓

English Mincemeat

Ingredients

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the raisins, currants, sugar, suet, apples, almonds, mixed peel, and salt.
Pour in the cider or grape juice and mix well.
Store the mincemeat in a sealed container in the refrigerator until ready to 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.

Apple + cidertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,238 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Raisin + almondtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,781 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Currant + cidertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together500 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,180 recipes

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

Suet: Adds fat that melts into a rich, moist texture and carries flavour through the mincemeat.
Sugar: Sweetens the mixture and helps preserve it by drawing out moisture from the fruit.
Raisins: Provide chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout the mixture.
Currants: Add small pockets of tart sweetness and chewy texture.
Apples: Contribute moisture and a bright, slightly tart flavour that balances the sugar.
Cider or grape juice: Adds liquid and fruity acidity that moistens and blends the dry ingredients.

Swap the almond

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

Chestnutfits about as well
Almondthe original
Beansfits less well
Walnutfits less well

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