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Dessert

Mince Meat

A preserved mixture of apples, suet, beef, currants, raisins, citron, spices, sugar, vinegar, molasses, and cider.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Mince Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the apples, suet, beef, currants, raisins, and citron.

Make the mincemeat

  1. In a pot, combine the coffee sugar, vinegar, water, and molasses. Boil the mixture.

  2. Pour the hot mixture over the chopped ingredients.

  3. Add the boiled cider and mix well.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  3. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  4. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Forms the meaty body of the filling, giving it substance and chew.
Apples
Add moisture and tartness that balance the sweetness of the sugar and molasses.
Suet
Adds fat that makes the filling rich and moist as it firms.
Coffee sugar
Sweetens the mixture and helps preserve it through its concentrated sugar content.
Currants
Contribute concentrated fruit sweetness and chewy texture.
Raisins
Contribute concentrated fruit sweetness and chewy texture.

The step that matters

Pour the hot mixture over the chopped ingredients. The sugar, vinegar, and molasses must be fully boiled first so the sugar dissolves completely. Pouring the hot syrup over the chopped ingredients lets it soak in and distribute evenly, so the filling is uniformly moist and sweet.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, beef, raisin, cinnamon, clove, pepper, coffee):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, beef, raisin, cinnamon, clove, pepper, coffee. 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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