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Dessert

Mock Mince-meat, Without Meat

A non‑meat mincemeat made with raisins, molasses, spices, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,390 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Mock Mince-meat, Without Meat

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a saucepan, combine cold water and raisins; cook for a few minutes.

  2. Add brown sugar and molasses, then cider vinegar.

  3. Stir in melted butter, rolled cracker crumbs, beaten egg, and spices.

  4. Finally, mix in the brandy and stir well.

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

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

  2. Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  3. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Molasses + cinnamontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Raisins
Provide chewy texture and natural sweetness, becoming plump as they cook in the liquid.
Molasses
Adds deep sweetness, dark colour and a rich, slightly bitter flavour.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, with caramel notes that deepen the filling.
Cider vinegar
Adds acidity that balances the sweetness of the sugar and molasses.
Melted butter
Adds richness and fat, giving the filling a smooth, mellow mouthfeel.
Beaten egg
Binds the filling and helps it thicken as it sets.

The step that matters

Stirring in the beaten egg with the melted butter and crumbs. Adding the egg to a hot mixture can scramble it, leaving lumps. Stirring steadily while the mixture is warm helps the egg blend in smoothly and bind the filling evenly.

Swap the raisin

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, sugar, cider, vinegar, butter, egg, 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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