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Dessert

Mock Mince Pie

A pie made from crushed crackers, eggs, raisins, vinegar, butter, sugar, molasses, spices, and salt.

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

Why it works: Sugar and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. 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, mixed 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. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Raisin + molassestop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,577 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Crackers
Crumbs add bulk and soak up liquid, giving the filling body.
Eggs
Bind the filling and set it as it bakes.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness.
Molasses
Adds dark color, deep sweetness and moisture.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps it brown.
Butter
Adds richness and fat for a tender texture.

The step that matters

Bake until set and golden. The eggs coagulate as they heat and firm the filling. Underbaked filling stays runny and may not hold a slice, while overbaked filling can dry out or turn grainy.

Swap the raisin

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

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

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