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Dessert

Mince Meat

A sweet mixture of lean meat, suet, sugar, dried fruit, citrus, spices, grape juice, and cider.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Mince Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cook the meat well, preferably using fresh tongue.

  2. Chop all ingredients finely.

Combine

  1. Combine the chopped meat, suet, sugar, apples, raisins, currants, citron, lemon juice, nutmeg, mace, grape juice, and cider in a large bowl. Mix thoroughly until well combined.

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. Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

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

  5. Apple + curranttop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,918 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

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

What each ingredient does

Lean meat
Forms the savoury base of the mincemeat, giving body and substance to the filling.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the mixture moist and rich in texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps preserve the mixture.
Apples
Contribute moisture, tartness and bulk to the filling.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture.
Cider
Provides liquid and acidity that blend the fruit and spices.

Swap the mace

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, sugar, apple, raisin, currant, lemon, 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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