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Mince Meat for Pies

A sweet and spiced mince meat mixture for pies made with boiled beef, suet, apples, raisins, currants, citron, spices, and sweet cider.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,331 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Mince Meat for Pies

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Chop the boiled beef, suet, and apples finely.

  2. Combine the chopped ingredients with the brown sugar, raisins, currants, grated nutmeg, mace, allspice, and cinnamon.

  3. Slice the citron finely and add it to the mixture.

  4. Pour sweet cider over the mixture and stir well.

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. Nutmeg + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

  4. Mace + allspicetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Currant + allspicetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,359 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (fruity, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Boiled beef
Provides the meaty bulk and body of the filling.
Suet
Adds richness and fat that keeps the filling moist and tender.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and a deep, molasses-like flavor.
Apples
Contribute moisture, tartness, and fresh fruit flavor.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture.
Currants
Add small bursts of tart, concentrated fruit flavor and chew.

Swap the currant

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, sugar, apple, raisin, nutmeg, mace, allspice. 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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