Name: Mince Meat
Ingredients: 2 pounds fillet of beef (from the inside of a rump); 2 pounds beef suet, chopped fine; 2 pounds chopped apples; 1 pound raisins, stoned and chopped; 1 pound currants, washed and picked; ½ pound citron, chopped; ¼ pound candied orange peel, sliced; ¼ pound candied lemon peel, sliced; 1 teaspoon beaten cinnamon; 1 teaspoon mace; 1 teaspoon cloves; 1 teaspoon allspice; 2 cups brandy; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt')

Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

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.

Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,634 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,390 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Orange + cinnamontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,437 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,598 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,950 recipes

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

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 a moist, tender texture as it melts during keeping.
Apples: Contribute moisture and tartness that balance the sweet dried fruit.
Raisins: Provide sweetness and chewy body throughout the mixture.
Brandy: Adds aroma and acts as a preservative that helps the mixture keep.
Fillet of beef: Supplies the meaty base and savory depth of the filling.
Cinnamon: Adds warm, aromatic spice that rounds out the sweetness.

Swap the mace

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

Nutmegfits better
Allspicefits better
Clovefits better
Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, apple, raisin, currant, orange, lemon, 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.