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Mince Pies

A pie filling of minced meat, apples, sugar, cider, molasses, spices, raisins, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Mince Pies

Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Mince Pies

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

  1. Mix the cider and molasses together, then add the ground cloves, cinnamon, mace, black pepper, and the liquor from the boiled meat.

  2. Combine all ingredients and boil until the apples are thoroughly cooked.

Fill and bake the pies

  1. When making into pies, add raisins and a little sour cider or vinegar to suit your taste.

  2. Add small pieces of butter before filling the pie crust.

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. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Apple + cidertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,238 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  4. Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,774 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Meat
Adds savory body and richness to the filling as it is chopped very fine.
Apples
Cook down into the bulk of the filling, giving moisture and soft texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps preserve the filling.
Molasses
Adds dark color, deep sweetness, and a rich flavor.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the filling.

The step that matters

Boil until the apples are thoroughly cooked. Apples must soften fully so the filling becomes cohesive and no firm pieces remain in the pie. Boiling also concentrates the mixture and drives off excess liquid, so the filling is thick enough to hold its shape when baked.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, apple, sugar, cider, molasses, clove, cinnamon):

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Gingerfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, apple, sugar, cider, molasses, clove, cinnamon. 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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