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Dessert

Mock Mince Pie

A sweet pie made with sour milk, molasses, raisins, cranberries, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Mock Mince Pie

Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

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

  2. In a large bowl, combine thick sour milk, molasses, chopped raisins, vinegar (or brown sugar), cooked cranberries, egg, salt, pepper, and spices. Mix well until all ingredients are combined.

Fill and bake

  1. Divide the mixture between two pie crusts.

  2. Dot the top with a little butter.

  3. Bake in the preheated oven until set and golden, about 30-40 minutes.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Milk + raisintop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,155 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).

  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

Thick sour milk
Provides acidity and moisture, giving the filling its tangy, custard-like body.
Egg
Binds the filling and helps it set as it bakes.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and natural sweetness to the filling.
Cranberries
Add tartness and moisture, balancing the sweetness of the filling.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark colour and a deep, rich flavour.

The step that matters

Baking until set. The egg sets as it heats, so the filling needs to bake until just firm. Underbaking leaves it runny, while overbaking can make it dry or cause it to curdle and weep.

Swap the raisin

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

  1. Figfits better
  2. Lemonfits better
  3. Grapefits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, molasses, vinegar, egg, pepper, 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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