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Mince Pie

A pie filled with apples, boiled beef, butter or drippings, molasses, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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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 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 the filling

  1. In a large bowl, combine the apples, boiled beef, butter or drippings, molasses, and water.

  2. Add the allspice, cinnamon, salt, cloves, vinegar, and grated nutmeg, then mix well until all ingredients are combined.

Assemble and bake

  1. Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Pour the mixture into a pie crust, cover with another crust, and bake for about 45 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.

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

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  5. Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,774 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Apples
Provide bulk and tartness, and soften into the moist body of the filling.
Boiled beef
Adds savory richness and body to the filling, as in traditional meat mince pies.
Molasses
Adds dark sweetness and depth of flavor, and helps the filling brown.
Butter or beef drippings
Adds fat for richness and a silky mouthfeel in the filling.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the sweet, spiced filling.

The step that matters

Cover and bake until the crust is golden brown. The crust should be fully baked and golden, since the filling is moist and sugary. Underbaked crust stays pale and soggy, while the sugars in the molasses can darken quickly and scorch if the oven runs too hot.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, butter, molasses, allspice, cinnamon, clove, vinegar):

  1. Figfits about as well
  2. Orangefits about as well
  3. Raisinfits about as well
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, butter, molasses, allspice, cinnamon, clove, vinegar. 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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