Name: Summer Mince Pie
Ingredients: 1 cup vinegar; 1 cup molasses; 2 cups hot water; 2 cups broken bread; 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 cup currants; 1 teaspoon ground cloves; Optional: a few cherries or berries

Why it works: Cinnamon and clove 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 ↓

Summer Mince Pie

two pies

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

Combine vinegar, molasses, hot water, broken bread, cinnamon, salt, currants, and cloves in a pot.
Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook for five minutes.
This mixture will make two pies.
Add cherries or berries for extra flavor if desired.

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.

Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Molasses + cinnamontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,928 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Vinegar + curranttop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together693 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Molasses + clovetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,483 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Cinnamon + curranttop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,099 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

What each ingredient does

Molasses: Adds dark sweetness and a deep, rich flavor to the filling.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the sweet, spiced filling.
Broken bread: Soaks up liquid and adds body to the filling.
Currants: Add chewy texture and small bursts of fruity sweetness.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, molasses, bread, cinnamon, clove):

Figfits better
Applefits better
Quincefits better
Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, molasses, bread, cinnamon, clove. 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.