Name: Mince Meat
Ingredients: 5 pounds lean beef, boiled and chopped fine; 2½ cups minced suet; 4 cups seeded raisins; 2 cups currants; 2 cups sliced citron; 6 cups brown sugar; ½ bushel sour apples, pared, cored, and chopped; 3 pints boiled cider; 1 cup molasses

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 ↓

Mince Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Boil and chop the beef finely.
Mix in the minced suet, raisins, currants, and sliced citron.
Add the brown sugar and chopped sour apples.
Stir in the boiled cider and molasses.
Combine all ingredients thoroughly.

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.

Apple + cidertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,238 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Currant + cidertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together500 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,180 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Currant + appletop 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

Beef: Provides the meaty body and bulk that gives the mincemeat its substance.
Suet: Adds richness and a moist, tender texture as it melts into the filling.
Brown sugar: Sweetens the mixture and helps preserve it with its moisture and body.
Sour apples: Contribute acidity and moisture, balancing the sweetness of the sugar and molasses.
Boiled cider: Adds concentrated fruit flavour and acidity, along with moisture and body.
Molasses: Adds depth, dark colour and a rich, sweet flavour.

Swap the currant

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

Figfits better
Pearfits better
Plumfits better
Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, raisin, sugar, apple, cider, molasses. 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.