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Dessert

Spiced Ginger-beead

A gingerbread made with flour, brown sugar, butter, molasses, ginger, cloves, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Hodgson, Mary, fl. 1855 · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,038 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Spiced Ginger-beead

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. In a large bowl, mix three pints of flour, one pound of brown sugar, three tablespoons of ginger, and one and a half cloves.

  2. Melt half a pound of butter in a quart of molasses.

  3. Knead the mixture together.

  4. Mix a pound and a half of flour with a half tea-cup of ginger.

  5. Melt half a pound of butter in a pint of molasses.

  6. When the molasses is hot, pour it over the flour, stirring well to keep it from becoming lumpy.

  7. Let the mixture stand until quite cold.

  8. Beat two eggs very light and stir into the dough until a stiff dough forms.

Shape and bake

  1. Roll the dough into thin cakes.

  2. Bake in a quick oven.

  3. Roll out and bake.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

751Calories
20 gProtein
18 gFat
125 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Ginger1 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 Hodgson, Mary, fl. 1855. 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.

  1. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Ginger + teatop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together216 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  3. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Tea + clovetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together181 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

Flour and butter 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

Flour
Forms the main structure that holds the dough together as it sets.
Molasses
Adds moisture, sweetness and depth, and helps the dough brown as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the dough.
Eggs
Bind the dough and add structure and richness.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and promotes browning.
Ginger
Provides the main spiced flavour of the bread.

The step that matters

Let the mixture stand until quite cold. Adding eggs to warm molasses and butter can scramble or thin the dough, so it must cool before the eggs go in for a stiff, workable dough.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. Clovethe original

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