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Dessert

Mince Pies

A pastry filled with suet, beef, dried fruit, apples, spices, and brandy, baked to a golden crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Mince Pies

Why it works: Orange and allspice work together. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 727 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Mince Pies

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the filling

  1. Mix suet, beef, raisins, currants, sultanas, candied rinds, apples, orange zest, orange juice, allspice, brandy, Madeira, and rum thoroughly.

  2. Pour the mixture into an earthenware jar and cover the jar.

  3. Let the mixture macerate for one month.

Assemble and bake

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Line deep, buttered tartlet molds with short pastry.

  3. Fill the molds with the prepared mixture.

  4. Cover with a thin layer of puff pastry, make a hole in the center, and seal the edges.

  5. Bake in the hot oven until golden.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Orange + allspicetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together727 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Brandy + rumtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  4. Apple + orangetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,230 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Apple + rumtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together214 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

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 filling moist and rich as it cooks.
Raisins
Add sweetness and chewy moisture to the filling.
Currants
Add sweetness and chewy moisture to the filling.
Sultanas
Add sweetness and chewy moisture to the filling.
Beef
Adds savory body and substance to the filling.
Brandy
Adds aroma and helps preserve the filling during maceration.

The step that matters

Macerating the filling. Resting the fruit and spirits for a full month lets the alcohol soak into the dried fruit and mellows the flavors together. Skipping or shortening this rest leaves the filling harsh and less cohesive.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, currant, apple, orange, allspice, brandy, rum):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Pineapplefits better
  3. Apricotfits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, currant, apple, orange, allspice, brandy, rum. 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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