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Supbrlativb Mincemeat

A spiced dried-fruit and brandy filling, used for mincemeat pies.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

Supbrlativb Mincemeat

Oven, in the book's wordsA fierce oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a fierce oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the filling

  1. Boil the lemons until tender, then chop them finely, removing all the seeds.

  2. Combine the chopped lemons with the other prepared ingredients in a large bowl.

  3. Mix in 3 to 4 cups of brandy and adjust salt and spices to taste.

Assemble and bake

  1. Butter some tin pattypans and line them with thin puff pastry.

  2. Fill the pastry with the mincemeat mixture and moisten the edges of the pastry covers.

  3. Seal the pies carefully, trim excess pastry, and make a small hole in the center of each pie.

  4. Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 30 minutes, covering with paper if they brown too quickly.

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. Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

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

  4. Raisin + brandytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,768 recipes

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

  5. Raisin + orangetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,684 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Lemons
Boiled until tender, then chopped, they supply the bulk and bright acidity of the filling.
Golden pippins
Apples add moisture and body to the filling, softening as the pies bake.
Suet
Fat that melts during baking, keeping the filling moist and rich.
Pounded sugar
Adds sweetness and helps preserve the filling while it matures.
Brandy
Adds aroma and helps preserve the mincemeat.
Raisins
Provide concentrated sweetness and chewy texture within the filling.

The step that matters

Sealing and venting the pies. Pastry edges must be moistened and sealed tightly so the filling does not leak, and the small center hole lets steam escape so the crust does not burst or turn soggy.

Swap the currant

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, raisin, orange, sugar, brandy. 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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