Name: Lemon Mince Pie
Ingredients: 1 cup boiled starch; 1 cup sugar; 1 cup molasses; ½ pint chopped raisins; ½ cup sliced citron; juice of 2 lemons; grated rind of 1 lemon; 2 pie crusts

Why it works: Sugar and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Lemon 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

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the filling

In a bowl, combine boiled starch, sugar, molasses, chopped raisins, sliced citron, lemon juice, and grated lemon rind.
Mix well until all ingredients are combined.

Assemble and bake

Pour the mixture into one pie crust.
Cover with the second pie crust and seal the edges.
Bake for about 30-40 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.

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.

Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,577 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Raisin + lemontop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,742 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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

Boiled starch: Thickens the filling as it cooks, giving it a spoonable, set texture.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps browning of the filling and crust.
Molasses: Adds dark color, deep flavor, and moisture to the filling.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the sweet, rich filling.
Raisins: Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness to the filling.