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Dessert

Sham Mince Pie

A sweet pie made with crushed crackers, molasses, butter, eggs, water, vinegar, raisins, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Molasses and sugar 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 ↓

Sham 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

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

Make the filling

  1. In a bowl, beat the eggs, butter, and molasses together until well combined.

  2. Add the crushed crackers, water, vinegar, raisins, and spices.

  3. Mix thoroughly and pour into a pie dish.

Bake

  1. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until set.

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,577 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set the filling into a sliceable custard as they cook and firm up.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, giving the filling a softer, rounder mouthfeel.
Molasses
Provides sweetness, deep color and a robust, caramel-like flavor.
Crushed crackers
Supply bulk and body, soaking up liquid to give the filling texture.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the sweet molasses and balances the flavor.

The step that matters

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until set. The eggs must coagulate to firm the filling. Underbaking leaves it runny and unsliceable, while overbaking can make the eggs tough and cause weeping or curdling.

Swap the raisin

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

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

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