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Mince Pie

A savory pie made with beef, suet, apples, currants, raisins, citron, spices, and sweetened with cider, brandy, wine, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Mince Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Boil the beef until tender, then let it cool and chop finely.

  2. In a large bowl, mix the chopped beef with the suet.

Mix the filling

  1. Add the salt, apples, currants, raisins, citron, and sugar.

  2. Season with cinnamon, mace, cloves, and nutmeg to taste.

  3. Pour in boiled cider, brandy, and wine until the mixture is soft.

  4. Mix well and pack into stone jars.

  5. Pour brandy over the top and cover tightly.

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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Provides the meaty bulk and body of the filling after boiling and chopping.
Suet
Adds richness and fat that keeps the filling moist and tender.
Apples
Contribute moisture, tartness and body to the filling.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture.
Currants
Add small pockets of sweetness and chewy texture throughout the filling.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps preserve it.

The step that matters

Pour in boiled cider, brandy, and wine until the mixture is soft. The liquids must be added gradually so the filling becomes soft and evenly moistened without turning watery. Too much liquid at once can make the mixture loose and hard to pack tightly, which affects keeping quality.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, apple, raisin, cinnamon, mace, clove, nutmeg):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Quincefits better
  3. Orangefits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, apple, raisin, cinnamon, mace, clove, 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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