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Dessert

Cranberry and Raisin Pie

A fruit pie made with cranberries, raisins, molasses, sugar, and corn starch, baked in pastry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Molasses and sugar 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 ↓

Cranberry and Raisin Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the fruit

  1. Cut the cranberries in half.

  2. Chop the raisins into small pieces.

Make the filling

  1. Combine the cranberries, raisins, sugar, molasses, and boiling water in a pot.

  2. Heat the mixture to boiling point.

  3. Mix the corn starch with cold water.

  4. Add the mixture to the boiling mixture and cook until slightly thickened.

Fill and bake

  1. Pour the filling into pie tins lined with pastry.

  2. Cover with a crust if desired.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 20 to 30 minutes.

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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,577 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Raisin + corntop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together180 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Corn + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,168 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

Cranberries
Provide the tart flavour and bulk of the filling.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and natural sweetness to the filling.
Corn starch
Thickens the filling as it cooks with the liquid.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and balances the tartness of the cranberries.
Molasses
Adds depth, dark colour and a rich, caramel-like sweetness.

The step that matters

Thicken the filling before baking. Corn starch only thickens fully when the mixture reaches a boil and is cooked until slightly thickened. Adding the starch mixture to a boiling base and cooking it through helps the filling set properly rather than running out of the pie when cut.

Swap the raisin

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, corn, sugar. 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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