Name: Soft Ginger Bread
Ingredients: 2 cups sugar; 2 cups lard; 2 oz baking soda; 8 eggs; 1 quart molasses; 1 quart milk; 4½ lbs flour; Vanilla extract to taste; Ground ginger to taste

Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Soft Ginger Bread

Ingredients

Directions

In a large bowl, mix together the sugar and lard until well combined.
Add the eggs and mix until smooth.
Stir in the molasses and then the milk.
Dissolve the baking soda in a small amount of warm water and add it to the mixture.
Gradually mix in the flour until fully incorporated.
Add vanilla extract and ground ginger to taste.

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.

Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,187 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,241 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,116 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, molasses, milk, flour, vanilla):

Cinnamonfits better
Nutmegfits better
Clovefits about as well
Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, molasses, milk, flour, vanilla. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.