Name: Mock Mince Pie
Ingredients: 2 crackers, finely crushed; 1 cup sugar; 1 cup molasses; 1 cup cold tea; 1 cup chopped raisins; ½ cup vinegar; spices for mince meat pie; ¼ teaspoon salt

Why it works: Sugar and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Mock Mince Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Crush the crackers finely and place in a bowl.
Add sugar, molasses, cold tea, chopped raisins, and vinegar to the bowl.
Mix in spices similar to those used in mince meat pie.
Add salt and stir until well combined.

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.

Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,577 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Tea + meattop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together207 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

Swap the raisin

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

Figfits about as well
Vanillafits about as well
Raisinthe original
Grapefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, molasses, tea, vinegar, meat. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.