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Dessert

Mock Mince Pies

A pie filling made from soaked crackers, raisins, vinegar, butter, sugar, molasses, and spices, baked in pie crusts.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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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 Pies

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Combine the rolled crackers and warm water in a large bowl.

  2. Let the mixture soak until the crackers are soft.

Mix and bake

  1. Add the chopped raisins, whole raisins, vinegar, melted butter, yellow sugar, molasses, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, then mix well until all ingredients are combined.

  2. Fill pie crusts with the mixture.

  3. Bake 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.

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. Clove + nutmegtop 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

Rolled crackers
Soak to soften and bulk up the filling, standing in for the body that meat would otherwise give.
Raisins
Provide chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout the filling.
Molasses
Adds dark sweetness, moisture and a deep, rich flavour.
Yellow sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the filling brown and set as it bakes.
Melted butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother, softer texture.
Vinegar
Adds a sharp acidity that balances the sweetness of the sugar and molasses.

Swap the raisin

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

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

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