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Cooked Meat for Mince Pies

A spiced beef and fruit mixture used as filling for mince pies.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 19 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and cider are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,238 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Cooked Meat for Mince Pies

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the beef

  1. Cook 4 pounds of lean beef in a kettle with enough water to cover it, removing scum as it boils.

  2. Add hot water as needed until the beef is tender.

  3. Season with salt and pepper.

  4. Boil uncovered until the liquid reduces and the meat begins to fry in its own juices.

  5. Set aside to cool.

Prepare and mix

  1. The next day, remove bones, gristle, and stringy bits from the beef and chop finely.

  2. In a large bowl, mix the chopped beef with apples, suet, raisins, currants, citron, brown sugar, molasses, sweet cider, boiled cider, salt, pepper, mace, allspice, cinnamon, nutmegs, and cloves.

  3. Warm the mixture on the stove until heated through.

  4. Remove from heat and stir in brandy and Madeira wine.

Store

  1. Transfer to a crock, cover tightly, and store in a cold place.

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. Apple + cidertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,238 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  2. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Currant + cidertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together500 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  4. Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

  5. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Lean beef
Provides the meaty body and savory base of the filling.
Apples
Add moisture, tartness and bulk that balance the sweetness.
Suet
Adds fat that gives a rich, moist texture as it melts into the filling.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, with molasses-like depth.
Brandy
Adds aroma and warmth, and helps preserve the mixture.

The step that matters

Remove the bones, gristle, and stringy bits and chop the beef finely. Any bone, gristle or stringy fibre left in will stay tough and noticeable in the finished filling. Fine chopping gives the mixture an even texture that blends with the fruit and suet.

Flavor stand-ins for the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, apple, raisin, sugar, molasses, cider, pepper):

  1. Figbetter flavor fit
  2. Plumbetter flavor fit
  3. Grapebetter flavor fit
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, apple, raisin, sugar, molasses, cider, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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