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Dessert

Mincemeat for Pies

A preserved mixture of suet, dried fruit, spices, and optional meat used as pie filling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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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 ↓

Mincemeat for Pies

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine the chopped suet, raisins, currants, sultanas, apples, and sugar in a large bowl.

  2. Add the spice, chopped candied peel, lime juice, and brandy, and mix well.

  3. If using, add the chopped lean beef or fresh tripe and mix thoroughly.

  4. Store in a sealed container; it will keep for a long time.

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

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

  3. Apple + brandytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,291 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  5. Raisin + brandytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,768 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Suet
Adds richness and a moist, soft texture as it blends through the fruit.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps preserve the mixture.
Brandy
Adds aroma and helps preserve the mixture.
Raisins
Provide sweetness, chew and bulk to the filling.
Lime juice
Adds acidity that brightens the sweet fruit.

Swap the lime

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, currant, apple, sugar, brandy, beef. 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 mincemeat recipes

Mock Pie 26Pie 21Lemon 15Fritters 14Green Tomato 13Pies 13 See all 120 →

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