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Mince Meat

A sweet mixture of boiled lean beef, apples, currants, raisins, sugar, suet, spices, citron, brandy, cider, and molasses.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Mince Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil the lean beef until tender, then chop finely.

Mix and store

  1. In a large bowl, combine the chopped beef, apples, currants, raisins, sugar, suet, salt, pepper, spices, citron, brandy, sweet cider, and molasses, then mix thoroughly until well combined.

  2. Store in a cool place until ready to use.

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

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

  3. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  4. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,774 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Lean beef
Provides the meaty body of the filling once boiled and finely chopped.
Suet
Adds richness and a moist, tender texture as it softens during storage.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps preserve the mixture.
Apples
Contribute moisture, tartness, and bulk to the filling.
Brandy
Adds aroma and helps preserve the mixture.
Molasses
Adds depth, dark colour, and extra sweetness.

Swap the currant

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, apple, raisin, sugar, pepper, cinnamon, clove. 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.

More mince meat recipes

Pie Filling 11Pie 10with Apples 9Preserved 8Apple 7Mock 7 See all 183 →

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