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Dessert

Summer Mince Pies

A meatless mincemeat pie filling of raisins, bread crumbs, molasses, crackers and spices, baked in rich crusts.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,377 recipes. Both carry alpha-terpineol, which smells lilac, floral. The science ↓

Summer Mince Pies

makes 3 pies

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Combine raisins, bread crumbs, sugar, molasses, boiling water, eggs, and spices in a large bowl.

  2. In a separate pot, mix the rolled crackers, butter, vinegar, nutmeg, cinnamon, and water.

  3. Cook the mixture on the stove until it thickens to a jelly-like consistency.

Assemble and bake

  1. This mixture will make 3 pies.

  2. Bake with 2 rich crusts.

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. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

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

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Raisin + molassestop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,577 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Raisins
Provide sweetness and chewy body to the filling.
Bread crumbs
Add bulk and help the filling hold together.
Molasses
Adds dark color, deep sweetness and a rich flavor.
Eggs
Bind the filling and help it set as it cooks.
Crackers
Add bulk and starch that help the filling thicken.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the filling.

The step that matters

Cooking the mixture until it thickens. The filling must reach a jelly-like consistency on the stove. Starch from the crackers and crumbs thickens as it heats, and cooking too briefly leaves it runny, while overcooking can make it stiff and dry.

Flavor stand-ins for the nutmeg

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

  1. Cinnamonbetter flavor fit
  2. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, bread, sugar, molasses, egg, butter, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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