Name: Mince Pie
Ingredients: 1 ½ crackers; 3 tablespoons melted butter; 1 cup vinegar; 1 cup molasses; raisins to taste; spices to taste

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 ↓

Mince Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Melt the butter and vinegar together.
Add the molasses, raisins, and spices.
Fill your pie crust with the mixture.
Cover the pie as usual.

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.

Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,577 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter + raisintop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,630 recipes

Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).
Butter + vinegartop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13,513 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Vinegar + molassestop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,253 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Vinegar + raisintop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together769 recipes

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