Name: Ginger Nuts
Ingredients: half pounds of flour; one-half pound of butter; half pound of brown sugar; three tablespoonfuls of ginger; one teaspoonful of cinnamon; one teaspoonful of black pepper; a pint of west india molasses; one tea- spoonful of soda

Why it works: Ginger and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,380 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Ginger Nuts

Ingredients

Directions

Rub in one and a half pounds of flour, one-half pound of butter, half pound of brown sugar, three tablespoonfuls of ginger, one teaspoonful of cinnamon and cloves (each), one teaspoonful of black pepper. Stir all into a pint of West India molasses, and piece of a lemon, one tea- spoonful of soda, two of cream tartar.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

678Calories

13 gProtein

13 gFat

127 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Molasses	1 tbsp (20g)	58
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
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 + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,380 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together216 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together245 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
Ginger + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,800 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,341 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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 (flour, butter, sugar, cinnamon, pepper, molasses, tea):

Nutmegfits better
Cardamomfits about as well
Clovefits about as well
Gingerthe original

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