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Mince Meat

A spiced mixture of beef, suet, dried fruit, apples, and sherry for Christmas pies.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Sherry and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,209 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Mince Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Trim all fat from the lean beef and remove skin and stringy bits from the suet, then chop them finely together.

  2. Stone the raisins and chop them with the peeled and cored apples.

  3. Wash and dry the currants, then rub them in a cloth.

Mix

  1. Sprinkle the salt over the beef and suet, then gradually add all other ingredients, mixing well.

  2. Add the sherry and brandy last, mixing thoroughly.

Store

  1. Transfer the mince meat to a jar, seal tightly, and store in a dry place. It's best made a few weeks in advance and will keep for many 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.

  1. Sherry + brandytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,209 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Apple + sherrytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together395 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  4. Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

  5. Apple + brandytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,291 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

Beef suet
Adds fat that melts during cooking and keeps the mixture moist and rich.
Raisins
Provide concentrated sweetness and chewy texture throughout the mixture.
Moist sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps preserve the mixture.
Sherry
Adds acidity and aroma, and helps preserve the mixture.
Brandy
Adds aroma and helps preserve the mixture during long storage.
Apples
Add moisture, tartness and body to the mixture.

The step that matters

Adding the sherry and brandy last. Alcohol acts as a preservative, so it should be mixed in thoroughly to reach every part of the mixture. Thorough mixing keeps the storage behaviour even throughout the jar.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, raisin, apple, sugar, sherry, brandy):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, raisin, apple, sugar, sherry, brandy. 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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