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
Chop the apples, raisins, currants, and mixed peel together until very fine, adding the sugar to make chopping easier.
Press the grape pulp well with a wooden spoon in a basin. Add all the ingredients to the basin and mix thoroughly.
Transfer the mixture into a jar and seal it tightly.
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.
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Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Apple + grapetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,659 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Grape + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,164 recipes
Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Apples
- Provide bulk and a fresh, tart body that softens into the filling.
- Raisins
- Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture as they soften.
- Currants
- Contribute tart, concentrated fruit flavour and chewy texture.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and a molasses note, and helps preserve the mixture.
- Mixed peel
- Adds bitter-sweet citrus aroma and chewy texture.
The step that matters
Chopping everything very fine. Fine, even pieces release more juice and flavour and blend evenly, so the mixture holds together rather than separating into dry and wet pockets.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, grape, raisin, sugar, lemon, cinnamon):
- Figfits better
- Orangefits better
- Pearfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, grape, raisin, sugar, 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.
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