Why it works: Raisin and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Mince Pies
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the filling
Weigh equal amounts of lemons, currants, raisins, minced suet, and brown sugar.
Cut lemons in half.
Squeeze the lemon halves and strain the juice.
Boil lemon skins in cold water until tender.
Drain the lemon skins and pound them.
Grate the nutmeg.
Finely chop the citron.
Mix all ingredients thoroughly, adding lemon juice last.
Pack the mixture into small jars.
Cover the jars with paper dipped in spirits.
Seal the jars.
Assemble and bake
Dust pans with flour.
Line the pans with puff paste.
Fill the pans with mince meat.
Wet the edges of the pastry.
Cover with more puff paste.
Trim the edges of the pastry.
Mark the edges with a cutter.
Remove excess paste.
Bake in a large patty pan lined with puff paste.
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.
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Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,377 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
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Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Currant + raisintop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,180 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fresh beef suet
- Adds richness and a moist, tender texture to the mincemeat filling.
- Good brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and a deep, molasses-like flavour to the filling.
- Puff paste
- Forms the flaky, buttery pastry that encloses and bakes around the filling.
- Cleaned currants
- Provide chewy texture and concentrated fruit sweetness to the filling.
- Fresh lemons
- Add acidity and fragrant citrus aroma that brighten the rich filling.
The step that matters
Sealing the jars with spirits-soaked paper. The alcohol-dipped paper and sealed jars limit contact with air and microbes, helping the mincemeat keep well before use.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, raisin, beef, sugar, nutmeg, flour):
- Figfits better
- Orangefits better
- Limefits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, raisin, beef, sugar, nutmeg, flour. 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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