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Dessert

Summer Mince Pie

A sweet pie made with soda crackers, water, cider, sugar, molasses, butter, raisins, spices, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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 ↓

Summer 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 the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the filling

  1. In a large bowl, combine the rolled soda crackers, water, cider, sugar, molasses, melted butter, raisins, and spices.

  2. Beat the eggs and add them to the mixture, stirring well.

Bake

  1. Pour the mixture into a pie crust and bake for about 45 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. 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. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

  5. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the filling and help it set into a sliceable custard-like texture when baked.
Soda crackers
Absorb liquid and thicken the filling, giving it body.
Molasses
Adds dark color, deep sweetness, and a rich flavor.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout the filling.
Melted butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother, softer texture.

The step that matters

Bake until set. Egg proteins coagulate as the filling heats, so underbaking leaves a runny center while overbaking can make it curdle or crack. Check that the center only just wobbles before removing the pie.

Swap the raisin

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against cider, sugar, molasses, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove. 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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