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Dessert

Mock Mince Pie

A sweet pie made with crackers, sugar, molasses, spices, raisins, currants, and sour cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Mock Mince Pie

Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Mock Mince Pie

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the filling

  1. In a large bowl, combine rolled crackers, sugar, molasses, vinegar, boiled cider, hot water, chopped raisins, nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon.

  2. In another bowl, mix dried currants, sour cream, sugar, egg, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice.

  3. Combine both mixtures and pour into two pie crusts.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake until set and golden.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

  5. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

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

What each ingredient does

Rolled crackers
Absorb liquid and give the filling body in place of traditional meat.
Molasses
Adds dark sweetness and a deep, rich flavor.
Sour cream
Adds moisture and tang, softening the spiced filling.
Egg
Helps the filling set when baked.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the sweet, spiced flavors.

The step that matters

Bake until set and golden. The egg sets the filling as it heats, so underbaking leaves it loose and overbaking can make it dry or curdled. Watch for a firm center and even golden color.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, molasses, vinegar, cider, nutmeg, clove, cinnamon):

  1. Applefits about as well
  2. Figfits about as well
  3. Raisinthe original
  4. Vanillafits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, molasses, vinegar, cider, nutmeg, clove, cinnamon. 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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