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Dessert

Mock Mince Pie

A sweet pie made with raisins, sugar, molasses, soda crackers, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Mock Mince Pie

Why it works: Raisin and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,377 recipes. Both carry alpha-terpineol, which smells lilac, floral. The science ↓

Mock Mince Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

  1. In a large bowl, combine the raisins, sugar, molasses, and crushed soda crackers.

  2. Add the hot water, vinegar, butter, cream, and grated nutmeg. Mix well until all ingredients are combined.

Bake

  1. Pour the mixture into a pie crust and 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.

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. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Raisin + molassestop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,577 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Raisins
Provide chewy texture and natural sweetness that give the filling its mincemeat character.
Soda crackers
Crushed crackers thicken the filling and give it body as they absorb liquid.
Molasses
Adds deep sweetness, dark color, and a rich caramel-like flavor.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness and balances the molasses.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender mouthfeel in the filling.

The step that matters

Bake until set. The filling thickens as its starch and cracker crumbs absorb liquid and the proteins and sugars firm up on heating. Pulling it too early leaves a runny pie, while overbaking can make it dry and dense.

Swap the raisin

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, molasses, vinegar, butter, cream, 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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