Name: Mince Meat
Ingredients: 2 pounds undercut of sirloin roast beef, chopped fine; 2 pounds beef suet, chopped fine; 3 pounds currants, well picked and washed; 1 pound new raisins, washed

Why it works: Currant and raisin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,180 recipes. Both carry gamma-nonanolactone, which smells coconut, creamy. The science ↓

Mince Meat

Ingredients

2 pounds undercut of sirloin roast beef, chopped fine
2 pounds beef suet, chopped fine
3 pounds currants, well picked and washed
1 pound new raisins, washed

Directions

Chop the undercut of sirloin roast beef and beef suet finely.
Pick and wash the currants thoroughly.
Wash the new raisins.
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix 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.

Currant + raisintop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,180 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Beef + raisintop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,273 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Beef + curranttop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,464 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).