Name: Soft Ginger Bread
Ingredients: half cup of sour milk; one teaspoon of ginger; a cup of molasses; a cup of sugar; a piece of butter the size of an ^^•g^ one teaspoon of ginger; one egg; two large cups of flour; one tea- spoon of soda; butter the size of an ^^•g^ one teaspoon of ginger

Why it works: Ginger and tea work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 216 recipes. Both carry (e)-2-octenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Soft Ginger Bread

Ingredients

Directions

MRS, E. T, WELLSLAGEE.
Two-thirds of a cup of molasses, two-thirds of a cup of sugar, a half cup of sour milk, one egg, a piece of butter the size of an ^^•g^ one teaspoon of ginger, two large cups of flour and one tea- spoon of soda.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

893Calories

27 gProtein

26 gFat

136 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Sour Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Molasses	1 tbsp (20g)	58
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Des Moines. Plymouth church. [from old catalog]. 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. See the original page.

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.

Ginger + teatop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together216 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Milk + teatop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together738 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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 (milk, molasses, sugar, butter, egg, flour, tea):

Cinnamonfits better
Nutmegfits better
Gingerthe original
Clovefits less well

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