Name: Mince Meat
Ingredients: 2 lbs currants; 2 lbs raisins; 2 lbs finely chopped suet; 4 lbs peeled apples; 2 lbs sugar; juice of 3 oranges; juice of 2 lemons; grated rind of 2 lemons; 1 lb mixed candied peel

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 ↓

Mince Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Pass the apples, raisins, and half of the currants through a mincing machine.
Mix all ingredients well.
Store in a cool place; it will keep for six months.

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.

Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,634 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Apple + orangetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,230 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Currant + raisintop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,180 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Currant + appletop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,918 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Raisin + orangetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,684 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 fat that keeps the mixture moist and rich in texture.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps preserve the mixture.
Apples: Provide moisture and body to the mince.
Raisins: Add sweetness and chewy texture.
Currants: Add fruit flavour and chewy texture.
Candied peel: Adds sweet, concentrated citrus flavour.

Swap the currant

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

Figfits better
Cranberryfits better
Vanillafits better
Currantthe original

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