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Dessert

Mock Mince Pie

A sweet pie made from cracker crumbs, raisins, molasses, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Mock Mince Pie

Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Mock Mince Pie

3 pies

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Roll the crackers into fine crumbs.

  2. In a bowl, combine the rolled crackers, eggs, chopped raisins, raisins, vinegar, hot water, butter, sugar, molasses, spices, and salt, then mix well until all ingredients are combined.

Bake

  1. Pour the mixture into pie crusts to make 3 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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

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

  3. Raisin + clovetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,070 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  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

Crackers
Crushed crackers replace the mincemeat and give the filling body as they absorb the liquids.
Eggs
Eggs bind the filling and help it set into a sliceable custard-like texture when baked.
Raisins
Raisins add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness, recreating the fruit of traditional mincemeat.
Molasses
Molasses adds dark color, deep flavor and moisture, along with sweetness.
Sugar
Sugar adds sweetness and helps the filling brown during baking.
Vinegar
Vinegar adds acidity that brightens the sweet, dense filling.

The step that matters

Bake until set and golden. Eggs set as they heat, and sugar and molasses brown over time. Underbaking leaves the filling runny, while overbaking can make it dry and cause the eggs to curdle or weep.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Allspicefits about as well
  3. Clovethe original
  4. Gingerfits about as well

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