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Dessert

Mock Mince Meat

A sweet filling made from crushed soda crackers, molasses, brown sugar, cider or vinegar, butter, raisins, eggs, spices, and apples.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,536 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Mock Mince Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a large bowl, combine the crushed soda crackers and cold water. Let it soak for a few minutes.

Make the mincemeat

  1. Add the molasses, brown sugar, cider or vinegar, melted butter, chopped raisins, and beaten eggs. Mix well.

  2. Stir in the cinnamon, allspice, cloves, black pepper, salt, and chopped apples. Mix until all ingredients are well combined.

Serve

  1. Use as a filling for pies or as a side dish.

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 + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  3. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Raisin + allspicetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

  5. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Soda crackers
Crumbs soak up liquid and help bind the mixture together.
Molasses
Adds dark color, moisture, and a deep, sweet flavor.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and a caramel-like depth.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set when cooked.
Apples
Provide bulk, moisture, and a fresh, tart fruit flavor.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that carries the spices and gives a smooth texture.

Swap the allspice

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Clovefits about as well
  3. Allspicethe original
  4. Gingerfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, sugar, cider, butter, raisin, egg, cinnamon. 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.

More mincemeat recipes

Mock Pie 26Pie 21Lemon 15Fritters 14Green Tomato 13Pies 13 See all 120 →

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