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Mince Meat

A preserved meat mixture of beef, suet, currants, raisins, apples, candied peel, spices, lemon, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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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

Prepare

  1. Mix the spices with the suet and meat in a large pan.

  2. Add the currants, raisins, apples, and candied peels.

  3. Gradually mix in the sugar, lemon juice, grated lemon peel, and brandy.

Macerate

  1. Stir well with a wooden spoon every other day for two weeks.

  2. Keep the pan covered in a cool place until ready to use.

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. Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

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

  3. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

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

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

  5. Orange + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,746 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef suet
Adds fat that keeps the mixture moist and rich as it matures.
Brandy
Acts as a preservative and adds aroma during the long resting period.
Moist sugar
Adds sweetness and helps preserve the mixture.
Apples
Add moisture and tartness that balance the sweetness of the fruit.
Currants
Provide chewy texture and concentrated sweetness.

The step that matters

Stirring during the two-week rest. Regular stirring redistributes the liquid, sugar and spices so the fruit and meat absorb flavour evenly. Keeping the pan covered in a cool place slows spoilage while the mixture matures.

Swap the currant

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

  1. Figfits better
  2. Cranberryfits better
  3. Vanillafits better
  4. Currantthe original

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