Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Mock Mince Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Combine raisins, sugar, bread crumbs, water, vinegar, butter, allspice, and egg in a pot.
Cook over medium heat until thickened.
Pour the mixture into pie crusts.
This recipe makes three pies.
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.
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Raisin + allspicetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,475 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
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Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Vinegar + allspicetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,548 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the allspice
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, sugar, bread, vinegar, butter, egg):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Capersfits about as well
- Allspicethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, sugar, bread, vinegar, butter, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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