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Mince-meat

A minced beef mixture with currants, raisins, candied peel, suet, apples, spices, and fortified wine.

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

Why it works: Lemon and orange 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 the fruit and meat

  1. Cleanse the currants and remove the stones from the raisins.

  2. Chop the candied citron, lemon, and orange peel into small pieces.

  3. Chop the fresh beef suet and place it in an earthen pan with the currants and candied peel.

  4. Chop the raisins and peeled apples, then add them to the pan.

  5. Chop the lean meat from the roasted sirloin and add it to the pan.

Mix and store

  1. Add the moist sugar, ground spices, and grated rinds to the mixture.

  2. Mix everything thoroughly and press it down to level in the pan.

  3. Pour in the brandy and Madeira (or sherry/port).

  4. Cover the pan with a lid and cloth to exclude air and prevent evaporation.

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. Lemon + orangetop 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. Orange + appletop 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

Currants
Adds chewy texture and concentrated fruit sweetness to the filling.
Raisins
Adds chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout the mixture.
Beef suet
Adds richness and fat that keeps the filling moist and tender.
Moist sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps preserve the mixture.
Brandy
Adds alcohol that helps preserve the mixture and contributes aroma.
Roasted sirloin of beef
Adds savory meaty body and substance to the filling.

The step that matters

Cover the pan with a lid and cloth to exclude air and prevent evaporation.. Excluding air limits oxidation and microbial spoilage, while sealing prevents the alcohol and moisture from evaporating, so the mixture keeps its flavour and texture during storage.

Swap the currant

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

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

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