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Sunos Meat

A preserved meat mixture of suet, beef, apples, currants, raisins, spices, brandy, and sweet wine.

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

Sunos Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Mix

  1. In a large pan, mix the suet, apples, currants, raisins, sugar, and chopped roast beef.

  2. Gradually add the spices, lemon juice, brandy, and sweet wine, stirring well.

Store and serve

  1. Cover the mixture and store it in a cold place.

  2. When ready to use, stir from the bottom and add half a glass of brandy to the desired quantity.

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. Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

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

  2. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

  4. Apple + orangetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,230 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Orange + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,746 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef suet
Adds fat that keeps the mixture moist and rich in texture.
Roast beef
Provides the meat body of the filling, giving it savoury substance.
Apples
Add moisture and tartness that balances the sweetness of sugar and fruit.
Moist sugar
Sweetens the mixture and helps preserve it through soft, sticky moisture.
Currants
Contribute sweetness and chewy texture to the fruit base.
Brandy
Adds aroma and acts as a preservative in the stored mixture.

The step that matters

Covering and cold storage. Keeping the mixture covered and cold limits drying and spoilage while flavours meld. Stirring from the bottom before use redistributes the heavier solids and liquid evenly, so each portion has a consistent texture and balance.

Swap the currant

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

  1. Figfits better
  2. Cranberryfits better
  3. Vanillafits better
  4. Currantthe original

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