Name: Mincemeat
Ingredients: 3 large lemons; 3 large apples; 1 lb stoned raisins; 1 lb currants; 1 lb chopped suet; 2 lb moist sugar; 1 oz sliced candied orange peel; 1 teacupful of brandy; 2 tablespoons orange marmalade

Why it works: Lemon and orange match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Mincemeat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lemons and apples

Grate the rind of the lemons.
Squeeze out the juice and strain the juice.
Boil the remaining lemons until tender enough to pulp.
Mash the apples.

Mix and store

Add the other ingredients one by one, mixing well after each addition.
Transfer the mixture into jars with tightly covered lids.

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.

Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,634 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,057 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Apple + orangetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,230 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,180 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Apple + brandytop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,291 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

Suet: Adds fat and richness, giving the mincemeat a moist, mellow texture as it matures.
Moist sugar: Adds sweetness and helps preserve the mixture while it keeps.
Brandy: Adds aroma and helps preserve the mixture in storage.
Apples: Add body and moisture, helping the fruit mixture hold together once mashed.
Lemons: Add acidity and fragrance that balance the sweetness of the sugar and dried fruit.

Swap the currant

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

Figfits better
Vanillafits better
Apricotfits better
Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, apple, raisin, sugar, orange, 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.