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Mince Pies

Mince pies made with beef, apples, currants, raisins, suet, spices, cider, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 19 ingredients
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Mince Pies

Why it works: Nutmeg and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Mince Pies

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the beef

  1. Select a nice piece of beef neck, weighing 5 pounds or more.

  2. Salt and boil as for pot roast, preferably in a fireless cooker.

  3. If boiling on the stove, cover with water and boil nearly dry.

  4. When cold, grind the fat and all the meat using a coarse plate of a meat chopper.

Make the filling

  1. Mix in the chopped suet and all other ingredients together.

  2. Set the mixture in a cool place.

  3. Optionally, add a little brandy.

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. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 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

Beef
Provides the bulk and meaty body of the filling.
Tart apples
Add moisture and tartness that balances the sweetness of the sugars.
Granulated sugar
Adds sweetness and helps preserve the mixture.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness.
Suet
Adds richness and fat that keeps the filling moist and smooth.
Boiled cider
Adds concentrated fruit flavour and acidity to the filling.

The step that matters

Set the mixture in a cool place. Cooling slows fermentation and spoilage of the moist, sugary filling, so it keeps well and its flavours can blend.

Swap the currant

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

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

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