Why it works: Egg and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Mince Pies
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Make good puff-paste according to your preferred recipe.
Roll out the paste to about ½ inch thick and line patty pans with it.
Fill the pans with mincemeat and cover with more paste, cutting off excess around the edges.
Bake
Bake in a brisk oven at 400°F (200°C) for 26 minutes or until golden.
Glaze and serve
Brush the tops with beaten egg white and sprinkle with pounded sugar.
Return to the oven for 1-2 minutes to dry the egg.
Serve hot on a white doily.
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.
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Puff paste
- Layers of fat and dough puff apart in the oven, giving a flaky, crisp case.
- Mincemeat
- Its fruit and sugar fill the pies with sweetness and moisture.
- Egg
- Beaten egg white gives the tops a glossy, golden finish and helps the sugar stick.
- Sugar
- Pounded sugar adds sweetness and a sparkling, crisp finish to the crust.
The step that matters
Baking in a brisk oven until golden. A hot oven makes the layers of puff paste rise and set quickly, producing a flaky crust. If the oven is too cool, the butter melts out before the structure sets and the pastry turns heavy and pale. Baking too long dries the filling and darkens the crust.
“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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