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Mince Meat

A savory mixture of boiled beef, suet, raisins, currants, apples, lemons, citron, sugar, molasses, spices, and brandy, boiled together.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,390 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Mince Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil the beef until tender and chop it finely.

  2. Add the suet, raisins, currants, apples, lemons, and citron, all chopped fine.

Make the mincemeat

  1. Mix in the brown sugar, molasses, cinnamon, allspice, mace, cloves, and coarse sea salt.

  2. Boil all ingredients together with the brandy and cider until done.

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  3. Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Provides the meaty body and substance that gives mincemeat its traditional texture.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the filling moist and rich.
Raisins
Add sweetness and chewy texture as the fruit softens.
Brown sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps preserve it through its sugar content.
Brandy
Adds aroma and helps preserve the mixture.
Apples
Add moisture, tartness, and body to the filling.

The step that matters

Boil all ingredients together with the brandy and cider until done. Cooking the mixture long enough lets the sugars and liquids concentrate and the fruit soften evenly. Stopping early leaves a watery filling that may spoil sooner, so the cook should judge doneness by thickness and texture.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, raisin, apple, lemon, sugar, molasses, cinnamon):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, raisin, apple, lemon, sugar, molasses, cinnamon. 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 mince meat recipes

Pie Filling 11Pie 10with Apples 9Preserved 8Apple 7Mock 7 See all 183 →

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