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Dessert

Mock Mince Pie

A sweet pie made with crackers, sugar, molasses, vinegar, water, eggs, raisins, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Mock Mince Pie

Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Mock Mince Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the filling

  1. In a large bowl, combine the finely rolled crackers, sugar, molasses, vinegar, and cold water.

  2. Add the well-beaten eggs, chopped raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and cloves, then mix well.

  3. Pour the mixture into pie crusts to make three pies.

Bake

  1. Bake in the preheated oven until set.

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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Crackers
Crushed crackers replace the traditional meat and fruit base, giving body and a mince-like crumb texture.
Molasses
Adds dark color, deep sweetness, and a rich flavor that stands in for mincemeat.
Eggs
Set the filling when baked, binding it into a sliceable custard-like structure.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout the filling.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor and balances the sweetness of the sugar and molasses.

The step that matters

Bake until set. Eggs thicken as they heat, so underbaking leaves the filling runny, while overbaking can make it dry and rubbery. Check that the center no longer wobbles.

Swap the raisin

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

  1. Raisinthe original
  2. Vanillafits about as well
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. Orangefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, molasses, vinegar, egg, cinnamon, nutmeg, 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.

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