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Dessert

Mock Mince Pie

A sweet pie made with raisins, molasses, sugar, crackers, and spices, baked until set.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Mock Mince Pie

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 ↓

Mock Mince Pie

four 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.

Make the filling

  1. In a large bowl, combine chopped raisins, sugar, molasses, water, and vinegar.

  2. Add the rolled crackers, cinnamon, butter, salt, and nutmeg. Mix well until all ingredients are combined.

Bake

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

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) 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.

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

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

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

  4. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Raisins
Add chewy texture and natural sweetness to the filling.
Molasses
Adds dark sweetness, rich flavor, and moisture to the filling.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the filling set as it bakes.
Crackers
Rolled fine, they thicken the filling and give it body.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender texture.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the sweetness of the molasses and sugar.

The step that matters

Bake until set. The filling thickens as it bakes, so pulling it too early can leave it runny. Baking until it is set means the filling has firmed enough to slice cleanly.

Swap the raisin

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

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

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