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Dessert

Mock Mince Pie

A mince-style pie filling made with crushed soda crackers, raisins, currants, cider, molasses and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Mock Mince Pie

Why it works: Cider and brandy work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 404 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Mock Mince Pie

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the filling

  1. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.

  2. Add the molasses, cider, and eggs, mixing well.

  3. Stir in the raisins, currants, and crushed soda crackers.

  4. Add the brandy and allspice, and mix until combined.

Bake

  1. Pour the mixture into a pie crust and bake at 350°F (175°C) 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. Cider + brandytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together404 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  2. Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Cider + curranttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together500 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  4. Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

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

Butter
Creams with sugar to add richness and a tender texture to the filling.
Eggs
Bind the filling and help it set into a sliceable custard-like texture when baked.
Molasses
Adds dark color, sweetness, and a deep, rich flavor.
Soda crackers
Crushed crackers add body and absorb liquid, giving the filling structure without fruit.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness in the filling.

The step that matters

Bake until set. Eggs thicken as they heat, so baking only until the filling is set keeps it tender and smooth; overbaking can make the eggs curdle and turn the texture grainy and dry.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, cider, molasses, sugar, egg, raisin, brandy):

  1. Applefits about as well
  2. Figfits about as well
  3. Vanillafits about as well
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, cider, molasses, sugar, egg, raisin, brandy. 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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