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Dessert

Mock Mince Pie

A pie filled with raisins, molasses, sugar, vinegar, tea, butter, spices, and salt.

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

Why it works: Molasses and sugar 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

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

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

  2. Crush the crackers into small pieces.

Make and bake the filling

  1. In a bowl, mix the egg, molasses, sugar, vinegar, strong tea, chopped raisins, crushed crackers, butter, spices, and salt until well combined.

  2. Pour the mixture into a pie crust.

  3. Bake in the preheated oven for about 30-40 minutes or 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. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,577 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + vinegartop 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

Egg
Binds the filling and helps it set firm when baked.
Crackers
Soak up liquid and give the filling body and a crumbly texture.
Molasses
Adds dark sweetness, moisture and a deep caramel flavour.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the filling brown lightly as it bakes.
Raisins
Provide chewy pockets of fruit sweetness throughout the filling.

The step that matters

Baking until set. The egg proteins firm as they heat, so the filling needs to bake until set in the centre. Pulling it too early leaves a runny filling, while overbaking can make it dry or cracked.

Swap the raisin

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

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

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