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Dessert

Mince Meat

A pie filled with minced beef suet, apples, currants, raisins, spices, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Mince Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Chop the beef suet very small.

  2. Chop the baking apples and mix with currants, raisins, and powdered sugar.

  3. Add mace, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, and French brandy to the mixture.

Assemble the pie

  1. Make a rich puff pastry.

  2. As you fill the pie, add small pieces of candied citron, orange, and lemon peel.

Store leftovers

  1. Store any leftover mixture in a pot and cover closely.

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. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

  4. Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,774 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef suet
Adds richness and moistness to the filling as it melts during baking.
Baking apples
Provide moisture and tartness that balance the sweetness of the filling.
Currants
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness to the filling.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness to the filling.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the filling and dissolves evenly into the moist fruit mixture.
French brandy
Adds aroma and flavor and helps preserve the filling.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, apple, raisin, sugar, mace, nutmeg, clove):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Quincefits better
  3. Orangefits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, apple, raisin, sugar, mace, nutmeg, clove. 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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