Name: Mock Mince Pie
Ingredients: 2 cups cracker crumbs; 2 cups sugar; 2 cups molasses; ½ cup lemon juice or vinegar; ½ cup raisins, seeded and chopped; ½ cup butter or ⅔ cup suet; 1 egg, well beaten; Spices to taste

Why it works: Sugar and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Mock Mince Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Mix the cracker crumbs, sugar, molasses, lemon juice or vinegar, raisins, and butter or suet in the order given, then add spices to taste.
If cooking, add the beaten egg last and bake between two 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.

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.

Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,577 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Lemon + raisintop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,742 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,227 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Cracker crumbs: Provides the bulk and body that holds the filling together.
Molasses: Adds sweetness, dark colour and moisture.
Butter or suet: Adds fat, giving a richer, more tender texture.
Lemon juice or vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the sweet filling.
Egg: Binds the filling and helps it set when baked.
Raisins: Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness.

Swap the lemon

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

Vanillafits better
Figfits better
Datesfits about as well
Lemonthe original

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