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Another Mince Pie

Cider may cause spoilage if not handled properly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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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 ↓

Another Mince Pie

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Boil the beef for about three hours until tender, then let it cool.

  2. Chop the cooled beef and suet together.

  3. In a bowl, mix the chopped meat with two chopped apples.

  4. Add the dried fruit, spices, and salt to the mixture.

  5. Incorporate the juice and grated rind of a lemon or orange if desired.

  6. If using cider, add it just before baking and increase the sugar.

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. Apple + cidertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,238 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  2. Brandy + cidertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together404 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  3. Wine + brandytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,427 recipes

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

  4. Wine + appletop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,207 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  5. Wine + cidertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together439 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

Swap the lemon

The recipe marks lemon as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, sugar, molasses, wine, brandy, apple, cider):

  1. Grapefits better
  2. Pearfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, sugar, molasses, wine, brandy, apple, cider. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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