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Dessert

Mock Mince Pie

A sweet pie made with raisins, soda crackers, molasses, vinegar, butter, and boiling water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Mock Mince Pie

Why it works: Raisin and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,577 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Mock Mince Pie

three pies

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 your oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the filling

  1. In a bowl, combine the chopped raisins, rolled soda crackers, molasses, vinegar, and butter.

  2. Pour in the boiling water and mix well.

  3. Add salt and spice to taste.

Bake

  1. Pour the mixture into pie crusts to make three pies.

  2. 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. Raisin + molassestop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,577 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Raisin + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,630 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).

  4. Raisin + eggtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,556 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Vinegar + buttertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,513 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

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 to the filling.
Soda crackers
Soak up liquid and give the filling body, standing in for mincemeat solids.
Molasses
Adds dark sweetness and deep flavor, and helps the filling brown.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the sweet molasses and raisin flavors.
Butter
Adds richness and fat for a smoother, more tender filling.

The step that matters

Pour in the boiling water and mix well. Boiling water softens the raisins and dissolves the molasses so the filling blends evenly. Mixing thoroughly prevents pockets of dry cracker and uneven sweetness, which would make the set texture inconsistent after baking.

Swap the raisin

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

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

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