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Dessert

Mock Mince Pie

A sweet pie made with sugar, butter, molasses, raisins, spices, wine, and cider.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Mock Mince Pie

Why it works: Raisin and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,390 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Mock 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).

Make the filling

  1. In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter, then add the molasses and mix well.

  2. Beat in the eggs one at a time.

  3. Stir in the rolled crackers, cold water, wine, boiled cider, and chopped raisins.

  4. Add salt, cinnamon, and cloves, and mix until combined.

Bake

  1. Pour the mixture into a pie crust and bake for about 45 minutes.

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Wine + cidertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together439 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Molasses + cinnamontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,928 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

Eggs
Bind the filling and add structure as they set in the oven.
Butter
Creams with the sugar to add richness and a tender texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps create a soft, moist texture.
Molasses
Adds deep color, moisture, and a robust caramel-like flavor.
Rolled crackers
Absorb liquid and give the filling body and a thick texture.
Boiled cider
Adds concentrated fruity acidity and sweetness.

The step that matters

Beating in the eggs one at a time. Adding each egg fully before the next keeps the creamed butter and sugar emulsified, so the batter stays smooth instead of curdling or separating.

Swap the raisin

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

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

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

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