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Dessert

Mock Mince Pie

A sweet pie made with crushed crackers, molasses, sugar, vinegar, butter, water, raisins, 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: 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

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

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

Make the filling

  1. In a bowl, combine crushed crackers, egg, sugar, molasses, vinegar, butter, and water.

  2. Mix in raisins and spices to suit your taste.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a pie crust.

  2. Bake until set and golden.

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. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Crushed crackers
Provide bulk and body, soaking up liquid to give the filling its texture.
Egg
Binds the filling and sets as it bakes, holding the mixture together.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the filling brown lightly in the oven.
Molasses
Adds deep sweetness, dark color, and a rich, caramel-like flavor.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that gives a sharp tang and balances the sweetness.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a softer, more tender texture.

The step that matters

Bake until set and golden. The egg proteins coagulate as they heat, which firms the filling. Pulling it too early leaves it runny, while baking too long can make it dry and cause it to curdle.

Swap the raisin

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

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

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