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Dessert

Mince Pies

Mince pies are savory pies filled with chopped meat, apples, spices, raisins, currants, and cider.

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

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 ↓

Mince 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. 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 the filling

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a large bowl, combine the chopped meat, apples, salt, allspice, cinnamon, cloves, sugar, raisins, currants, and cider. Mix well until all ingredients are evenly combined.

Bake

  1. Fill pie crusts with the mixture and cover with a top crust.

  2. Bake in the preheated oven for about 30-40 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown.

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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

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

  5. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

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

What each ingredient does

Chopped meat
Provides the savoury, rich body that forms the core of the filling.
Apples
Add moisture and tartness that balance the sugar and spices.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the filling taste rich and well rounded.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout the filling.
Currants
Add small bursts of chewy texture and fruity sweetness.
Cider
Adds liquid and acidity that moisten the filling and carry the spices.

The step that matters

Mixing the filling evenly. Spices, sugar and salt must be distributed evenly, or some bites will taste bland and others overly strong. Thorough mixing also spreads the liquid from the cider and apples so the filling bakes uniformly rather than drying in patches or pooling.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, apple, allspice, cinnamon, clove, sugar, raisin):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Orangefits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, apple, allspice, cinnamon, clove, sugar, raisin. 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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