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Mock Mince Pie

A pie made with soda crackers, raisins, molasses, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Mock Mince Pie

Why it works: Molasses and raisin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,577 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Mock Mince Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

  1. Roll the soda crackers finely and add to a well-beaten egg.

  2. Mix well, then stir in molasses, vinegar, strong tea, chopped raisins, butter, mixed spices, and salt.

Bake

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

  2. Bake until 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.

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. Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,577 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Tea + raisintop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together64 recipes

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

  4. Raisin + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,630 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).

  5. Tea + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together703 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Soda crackers
Crushed crackers soak up liquid and give the filling body in place of mincemeat.
Egg
Binds the filling and helps it set as it bakes.
Molasses
Adds dark color and a rich, sweet flavor.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the sweetness of the molasses and raisins.
Raisins
Provide chewy texture and concentrated sweetness.

The step that matters

Bake until golden brown. Baking until the crust is evenly golden shows the pie has browned and the filling has set. Underbaking leaves a runny center, while overbaking dries the filling and hardens the crust.

Swap the raisin

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

  1. Peachfits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Grapefits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, molasses, vinegar, tea, butter. 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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