Skip to main content
Dessert

Rhubarb Mince Pie

A pie filled with rhubarb, molasses, raisins, and spices baked until set.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Clove and cinnamon 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 ↓

Rhubarb Mince Pie

makes three pies

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 the filling

  1. In a large bowl, combine chopped rhubarb, molasses, sugar, butter, and water.

  2. Add chopped raisins, crushed crackers, salt, cloves, allspice, and cinnamon. Mix well until all ingredients are combined.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into pie crusts to make three pies.

  2. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) 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.

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. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

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

  5. Rhubarb + cinnamontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together279 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

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

What each ingredient does

Rhubarb
Provides the tart, fruity base that balances the sweetness of the filling.
Molasses
Adds dark sweetness, moisture and a deep, rich flavour.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps it thicken and set as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender texture.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout the filling.
Crackers
Crushed crackers soak up liquid and help the filling hold its body as it sets.

The step that matters

Baking until set. Rhubarb releases liquid as it heats, and the filling needs to bake long enough for the starches and sugars to thicken it. Pulling the pies too early can leave a runny filling that spills when sliced.

Swap the rhubarb

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Gingerfits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. Rhubarbthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, sugar, butter, raisin, clove, allspice, 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.

You might also like

Rhubarb PieRhubarb Pie152 recipesMolasses CookiesMolasses Cookies96 recipesMolasses CakeMolasses Cake90 recipesCinnamon RollsCinnamon Rolls71 recipes