Name: Summer Mince Pies
Ingredients: 1 cup raisins; 1 cup water; 1 cup vinegar; 1½ cups molasses; 1 cup brown sugar; 4 soda crackers; Ice to taste

Why it works: Molasses and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and 9,225 recipes mention both. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Summer Mince Pies

Ingredients

Directions

Combine raisins, water, vinegar, molasses, brown sugar, and crushed soda crackers in a bowl.
Mix well until all ingredients are combined.
Chill the mixture with ice to taste.
Use the filling to make four good-sized pies.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Raisin + molassestop 12% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together3,577 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together12,481 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together20,806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Vinegar + molassestop 26% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together1,253 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the raisin

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

Raisinthe original
Figabout as good a flavor fit
Vanillaabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, molasses, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).