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Dessert

Mince Pie

A sweet pie made with finely chopped beef, suet, apples, raisins, currants, citron, spices, sugar, molasses, cider, vinegar, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Mince Pie

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large pan.

  2. Set the pan over a kettle of boiling water.

  3. Heat until thoroughly mixed and cooked.

  4. Add grated orange peel, orange juice, or other flavoring to taste.

  5. If the mixture is too dry, add a little water and more sugar if needed.

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. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  3. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  4. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,774 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold boiled beef
Provides the meaty body that gives the filling its traditional substance.
Suet
Adds richness and a soft, moist texture to the filling.
Apples
Contribute moisture and tartness that balances the sweetness.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture.
Molasses
Adds dark sweetness and deep flavor, and helps keep the filling moist.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps preserve its moisture.

The step that matters

Heat until thoroughly mixed and cooked. The mixture is thick and rich, so it can scorch on the bottom of the pan if not stirred. Gentle, even heat over boiling water helps the fat, sugar and fruit blend smoothly and cook through without burning.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, apple, raisin, clove, cinnamon, mace, pepper):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, apple, raisin, clove, cinnamon, mace, pepper. 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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