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Mince Pies

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
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Mince Pies

Why it works: Clove and nutmeg 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

  1. Parboil the beef until cooked, then let it cool and mince it very fine.

  2. Mince the beef suet finely.

  3. Wash and dry the currants by the fire.

  4. In a large bowl, combine the minced beef, suet, currants, raisins, and apples.

  5. Add the powdered sugar, salt, ground cloves, mace, nutmeg, candied peels, lemon zest, and lemon juice.

  6. Mix everything well together.

  7. Stir in the brandy and sherry until fully combined.

  8. Store the mixture in a stone jar, tightly sealed, for preservation.

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. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

Swap the currant

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, raisin, apple, sugar, clove, mace, nutmeg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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