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Mincemeat, Good

A preserved fruit and suet mixture flavored with spices, lemon, and spirits.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Currant and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,057 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Mincemeat, Good

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Core and finely chop or grate the apples.

  2. Chop the suet very finely.

  3. Shred the candied peel.

Mix and pack

  1. In a large bowl, combine the chopped apples, suet, candied peel, raisins, currants, sugar, mixed spice, lemon rind, lemon juice, and salt.

  2. Gradually add the spirits and mix well with a large wooden spoon.

  3. Pack the mixture into a jar.

  4. Cover it to keep the flavor in and dust out.

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. Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

  3. Apple + brandytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,291 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Currant + appletop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,918 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  5. Raisin + brandytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Muscatel raisins
Provide chewy body and concentrated sweetness to the filling.
Currants
Add small chewy fruit pieces and tart, concentrated sweetness.
Moist sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps preserve the fruit mixture.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the mixture moist and rich in texture.
Apples
Contribute moisture and tartness that balance the sweetness.
Brandy and rum
Act as a preservative and add aroma to the mixture.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, currant, sugar, apple, brandy):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Apricotfits better
  3. Vanillafits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, currant, sugar, apple, brandy. 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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