Name: Soft Gingerbread
Ingredients: half cups of orleans molasses; half cup brown sugar; half cup butter; half cup of sweet milk; half teaspoonful of ginger; three cups of sifted flour; allspice; ginger

Why it works: Ginger and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,620 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Soft Gingerbread

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

Combine one and a half cups of Orleans molasses, half cup brown sugar, half cup butter, half cup sweet milk, teaspoonful of soda, teaspoonful of allspice, and half teaspoonful of ginger, then mix all ingredients thoroughly together.
Add three cups of sifted flour and mix until combined.

Bake

Bake the dough in shallow pans until set.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

820Calories

21 gProtein

21 gFat

136 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Molasses	1 tbsp (20g)	58
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Allspice	1 tsp ground (1.9g)	5
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 Goff, May Perrin, [from old catalog] ed. 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.

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 + allspicetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,620 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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).
Flour + allspicetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,302 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

What each ingredient does

Molasses: Adds deep sweetness, moisture and the dark color of the gingerbread.
Flour: Provides the structure that sets the crumb as the batter bakes.
Butter: Adds fat for a tender texture and rich flavor.
Sweet milk: Adds moisture and helps the batter bake into a soft crumb.
Brown sugar: Adds sweetness and moisture, deepening the flavor.

Swap the allspice

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

Cinnamonfits better
Cardamomfits better
Nutmegfits about as well
Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, sugar, butter, milk, ginger, flour. 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.