Skip to main content
Main

Mince Meat

A savory mixture of beef, apples, suet, spices, molasses, raisins, currants, sugar, cider, oranges, and lemons, cooked and canned.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 19 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Mince Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. In a large bowl, combine the beef, apples, suet, salt, mace, cinnamon, cloves, nutmegs, molasses, chopped raisins, whole raisins, Sultana raisins, citron, currants, brown sugar, and granulated sugar.

  2. Grate the yellow part of the oranges and lemons, discarding the white peel, and add to the mixture.

Cook and preserve

  1. Mix all ingredients thoroughly and cook until the apples are done.

  2. Add the pulp and juice of the oranges and lemons.

  3. Seal in cans while hot and store in a cool place for later use.

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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Provides the meaty body and richness that the filling is built around.
Apples
Add moisture and tartness, and soften into the filling as they cook.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the filling moist and rich as it cooks.
Molasses
Adds dark sweetness and a deep, slightly bitter flavour.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, along with a caramel-like depth.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture throughout the mixture.

The step that matters

Cook until the apples are done. Apples must be fully softened so the mixture becomes an even, spreadable filling. Stirring during cooking helps prevent sticking and scorching on the bottom of the pot, since sugars and molasses burn easily.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Gingerfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, apple, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, molasses, raisin. 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.

More mince meat recipes

Pie Filling 11Pie 10with Apples 9Preserved 8Apple 7Mock 7 See all 183 →

You might also like

Lemon SauceLemon Sauce236 recipesRoast BeefRoast Beef211 recipesBeef LoafBeef Loaf175 recipesCorned BeefCorned Beef87 recipes