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Dessert

Mock Mince Pie

A dessert pie made with cracker crumbs, water, vinegar, sugar, molasses, raisins, currants, cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

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

Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Mock Mince Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the cracker crumbs in water.

  2. In a large bowl, combine the soaked cracker crumbs, vinegar, sugar, molasses, raisins, currants, cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg, then mix well until all ingredients are combined.

Fill and bake

  1. Divide the mixture into three pie crusts and fill them.

  2. Bake according to your pie crust instructions.

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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

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

What each ingredient does

Cracker crumbs
Soak up liquid and give the filling body so it sets softly rather than running.
Vinegar
Adds a sharp tang that balances the sweetness of the sugar and molasses.
Sugar
Provides sweetness and helps round out the sharp and dark flavours.
Molasses
Adds dark color, deep sweetness, and a moist, rich flavour.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness to the filling.
Currants
Add chewy texture and tart fruit flavour throughout the filling.

The step that matters

Soaking the cracker crumbs. Dry crumbs that are not fully soaked stay gritty and absorb liquid unevenly during baking. Soaking first lets the crumbs hydrate and soften so they blend into the filling and thicken it evenly.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sugar, molasses, raisin, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Orangefits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, molasses, raisin, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg. 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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