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Dessert

Raisin Pie

A raisin pie made with boiled raisins, flour or breadcrumbs, butter, spices, vinegar, sugar, topped with grated nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg 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 ↓

Raisin Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

  1. Boil 1 quart of water.

  2. Add the package of seedless raisins.

  3. Cook for 5 minutes.

  4. Remove from heat.

  5. Stir in the flour or moistened bread crumbs.

  6. Add the butter, cinnamon, cloves, vinegar, and sugar. Mix well.

Finish

  1. Grate nutmeg on top before serving.

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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Raisins
Provide the main body and sweetness of the filling as they soften in the water.
Flour or bread crumbs
Thicken the cooking liquid so the filling sets rather than running.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps give the filling a rich, syrupy body.
Vinegar
Adds a sharp acidity that balances the sweetness of the sugar and raisins.
Butter
Adds fat for richer flavor and a smoother mouthfeel in the filling.

The step that matters

Stir in the flour or bread crumbs off the heat. Starch thickens best once removed from direct heat and stirred in evenly; adding it to boiling liquid without stirring can create lumps and an uneven set.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, flour, butter, cinnamon, vinegar, sugar, nutmeg):

  1. Cardamomfits about as well
  2. Allspicefits about as well
  3. Clovethe original
  4. Gingerfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, flour, butter, cinnamon, vinegar, sugar, nutmeg. 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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