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Mince-meat

A savory minced beef mixture flavored with apples, candied fruit, raisins, spices, and sweetened with molasses, sugar, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 20 ingredients
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Mince-meat

Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Mince-meat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fruit and meat

  1. Chop the beef and suet very fine.

  2. Mix the chopped beef and suet together.

  3. Add the chopped apples to the meat mixture.

  4. Seed the raisins.

  5. Chop the candied fruit.

  6. Slice the citron.

  7. Combine the chopped ingredients with the meat and suet, along with the currants, spices, and salt.

  8. Mix well.

Add the liquids and ripen

  1. Add the sugar, molasses, lemon juice, and orange juice.

  2. Add the brandy, sherry, and cider.

  3. Let the mixture stand for several days to ripen before using.

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

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

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 of the filling, giving it substance and a rich savoury base.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the filling moist and carries flavour through the mixture.
Apples
Contribute moisture and tartness that balance the sweetness of the sugar and molasses.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture to the mixture.
Molasses
Adds deep sweetness and a dark, rich colour to the mince.
Brandy
Adds aroma and helps preserve the mixture during its long ripening.

The step that matters

Let the mixture stand for several days to ripen before using. Resting lets the spices, fruit, alcohol and sugar blend and mellow, so flavours become more rounded than when freshly mixed. Skipping this time leaves the filling sharper and less cohesive.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, orange, lemon, cinnamon, allspice, clove, beef):

  1. Cranberryfits better
  2. Limefits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, orange, lemon, cinnamon, allspice, clove, beef. 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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