Name: Mince Meat
Ingredients: 1 ½ pounds brown sugar; 2 pounds beef suet; 2 pounds raisins; 2 pounds currants; 8 ounces mixed peel; ½ ounce mace; ¼ ounce cloves; 1 pint brandy; 1 tongue

Why it works: Mace and clove are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,400 recipes. Both carry methyleugenol, which smells clove, spice. The science ↓

Mince Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tongue

Boil the tongue until tender, then skin and chop it finely.

Mix and pack

In a large bowl, combine the chopped tongue with brown sugar, beef suet, raisins, currants, mixed peel, mace, cloves, and brandy. Mix all ingredients well and pack tightly into jars.

Serve

When ready to use, take an equal quantity of finely chopped apple for each serving of mince meat.

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.

Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together8,400 recipes

Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,057 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Raisin + clovetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,070 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,180 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Currant + macetop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,791 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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 mincemeat moist and rich in texture.
Brown sugar: Provides sweetness and moisture, and helps preserve the mixture.
Brandy: Adds alcohol that aids preservation and contributes aroma.
Raisins: Supply concentrated sweetness and chewy body to the filling.
Currants: Add fruity sweetness and chewy texture throughout the mixture.
Tongue: Supplies meaty body and richness that gives the mince its savoury base.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, beef, raisin, currant, clove, brandy):

Cinnamonfits better
Nutmegfits better
Allspicefits better
Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, beef, raisin, currant, clove, 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.