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Mince Meat

A sweet meat mixture of beef, pork, apples, sugar, raisins, currants, vinegar, fruit scraps, cinnamon, cloves, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and pork match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,690 recipes. Both carry 12-methyltridecanal, which smells tallowy, beefy. The science ↓

Mince Meat

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large pot.

  2. Heat thoroughly over medium heat.

  3. Stir occasionally until well mixed.

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. Beef + porktop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,690 recipes

    Shared aroma: 12-methyltridecanal (tallowy, beefy).

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

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

  3. Meat + porktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,208 recipes

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

  4. Meat + beeftop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,533 recipes

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

  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

Chopped meat
Provides savory body and a chewy texture once cooked through.
Chopped apples
Add moisture and tartness, and their pectin helps the mixture thicken as they soften.
White sugar
Adds sweetness and, by binding water, helps preserve the mixture.
Seeded raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and a chewy texture.
Currants
Add tart-sweet fruit flavour and a chewy texture.
Sweet pickle vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and helps preserve the mixture.

The step that matters

Heating thoroughly while stirring. This mixture is rich in sugar and fruit, which can scorch on the bottom of the pot over direct heat. Stirring occasionally spreads the heat evenly and keeps the mixture from burning, while heating thoroughly ensures the meat is fully cooked.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, beef, pork, apple, sugar, raisin, vinegar):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Plumfits better
  3. Grapefits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, beef, pork, apple, sugar, raisin, vinegar. 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.

More mince meat recipes

Pie Filling 11Pie 10with Apples 9Preserved 8Apple 7Mock 7 See all 183 →

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