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Dessert

Mince Pies

A pastry filled with a mixture of beef, apples, currants, raisins, spices, wine, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
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Mince Pies

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 Pies

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the mincemeat

  1. Mix the suet, apples, currants, raisins, sugar, citron, candied peels, and roast beef in a large bowl.

  2. Gradually add the spices, then mix the lemon juice, wine, and brandy together and pour over the mixture.

  3. Stir well and cover tightly, storing in a cool place.

  4. When ready to use, stir from the bottom and add 1 tablespoon of brandy for each batch.

Bake and serve

  1. Fill tart pans with the mixture and cover with puff pastry, trimming the edges.

  2. Make a small opening in the top with a fork and bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until golden.

  3. Serve hot, optionally dusted with sifted sugar.

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. 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

Roast beef
Adds savoury body and meaty richness to the filling.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the filling moist and rich.
Apples
Add moisture and tartness that balance the sweetness.
Moist sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps preserve it.
Brandy
Adds aroma and helps preserve the mixture.
Currants
Add chewy texture and concentrated fruit sweetness.

The step that matters

Storing the mixture before baking. Letting the filling rest in a cool place with alcohol lets the flavours blend and helps preserve it. Stirring from the bottom before use keeps the heavier fruit and suet evenly distributed.

Swap the currant

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

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

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