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Mince Meat

A minced beef mixture with suet, apples, currants, raisins, citron, spices, cider, brandy, wine, and sugar, packed into jars.

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 Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  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 and pack

  1. Add salt, apples, currants, raisins, and citron to the mixture.

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

  3. Add 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 body and bulk of the mincemeat filling.
Suet
Adds richness and a moist, soft texture as it blends through the filling.
Apples
Contribute moisture and tartness that balance the sweetness of the fruit.
Currants
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy fruit texture throughout the mixture.
Raisins
Add sweetness and chewy texture while helping bind the moist filling.
Boiled cider
Adds concentrated apple acidity and sweetness that deepen the filling's flavour.

The step that matters

Cover tightly after packing into stone jars. Alcohol and sugar preserve the mixture, but a tight seal limits air exposure, which slows spoilage and keeps the brandy's aroma from evaporating.

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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