Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Mince Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Make the filling
Combine the chopped meat and apples in a large bowl.
Moisten the mixture with boiled cider and sweeten with dark sugar.
Add spices to taste, including cloves, cinnamon, allspice, and a little black pepper.
Stir in currants and raisins just before baking.
Bake and serve
Fill pie crust and bake until golden.
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.
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Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,536 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Apple + cidertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,238 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chopped cooked meat
- Forms the savoury bulk of the filling, giving the pie its traditional body.
- Apples
- Add moisture and tartness that balance the sweetness and richness of the meat.
- Boiled cider
- Moistens the filling and adds concentrated apple flavour and acidity.
- Dark sugar
- Sweetens the filling and adds molasses-like depth of flavour.
- Currants
- Add small bursts of sweetness and chewy texture through the filling.
- Raisins
- Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout the filling.
The step that matters
Stir in currants and raisins just before baking. Adding dried fruit at the last moment keeps the filling from becoming overly wet or soaking up liquid before the pie is baked, so the texture stays even.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, cider, sugar, clove, cinnamon, allspice, pepper):
- Figfits about as well
- Orangefits about as well
- Applethe original
- Limefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against meat, cider, sugar, clove, cinnamon, allspice, pepper. 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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