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Mince Pie

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

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

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

  3. Add the allspice, cinnamon, salt, cloves, vinegar, and grated nutmeg. Mix well.

Bake

  1. Pour the mixture into a pie crust and cover with another crust.

  2. 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 that balance the sweet molasses and spices.
Boiled beef
Adds savory body and meaty texture to the filling.
Butter or beef drippings
Adds richness and fat that carries flavour and softens the filling.
Molasses
Provides dark sweetness and moisture, and deepens the colour of the filling.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the rich, sweet filling.

The step that matters

Bake until the crust is golden brown. The crust needs enough time in the oven for its starches to set and its sugars and proteins to brown, which makes it crisp and flavourful. Pulling the pie early leaves a pale, soggy crust over a filling that has not fully set.

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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