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Mince Pie

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

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.

Prepare

  1. Chop the apples and boiled beef finely.

  2. In a large bowl, combine the chopped apples, beef, butter or drippings, molasses, water, allspice, cinnamon, salt, cloves, vinegar, and grated nutmeg. Mix well until all ingredients are combined.

Bake

  1. Pour the mixture into a pie crust and bake at 350°F (175°C) until the filling is 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.

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 that balances the sweet molasses and spices.
Boiled beef
Adds savoury body and a dense, meaty texture to the filling.
Butter or beef drippings
Adds fat for richness and a smooth mouthfeel in the filling.
Molasses
Supplies dark sweetness and a deep, caramel-like flavour.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the rich, sweet filling.

The step that matters

Bake until the filling is set. Baking long enough lets the moisture from the apples and water thicken and set the filling, so it slices cleanly instead of running. Underbaking leaves a loose, soggy center, while the pastry needs enough heat to brown and firm up.

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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