Why it works: Ginger and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 2,620 recipes mention both. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, milk, wheat, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Also mentioned in the method: almond, walnut
Directions
Mix three quarters of a pound of flour in half a pint of milk with four fresh eggs, half a pound of powdered sugar and the peel of a candied lemon grated and pounded fine ; reduce this to a clear batter, and prepare your irons as before.
6AUFFKES AU MALAGA.
Beat two fresh eggs, and mix a quarter of a pound of flour, a quarter of a pound of sugar in powder, and a glass of good Malaga wine. When well mixed, put it in your wafer irons, and finish as before.
GATTiTBES AU BEXTELKE.
Wet half a pound of flour with cream, two yolks of eggs, half a pound of sugar, and half a pound of fresh butter melted in water, with a little salt and some grated lemon-peel; make a thin batter, finish them as before. These gauffres are very palatable, but not so light as the others.
BISCUITS^ MERINGUES. 53
GAS8EMAI7X.
Found in a mortar some fresh curd^ and mix with it some batter, the yolks of eggs, and some flour, add a little yeast, and beat it well an hour and a half with a wooden spatula. When well mixed, and a good consistency, put them on tin plates with a small spoon, make them the size of a pigeon^s egg; egg them over, and let them bake a quarter of an hour ; they will swell very much, and leave an opening inside.
It is necessary to beat this paste a long time to make them less heavy than they would be. In Normandy these are favourite cakes. A lemon-peel, or a few carraway-seeds make a change.
CBOQUIGNOLLES.
Mix some flour with the yolks of eggs, some pounded almonds, a little rose-water, and a very little sugar. Make a stiff paste, and cut it into pieces about the size of a walnut ; put them on a tin plate, and bake them in a moderate oven a quarter of an hour. When a good bright yellow, and crisp, take them out, and keep them in a dry place.
PAIN lyEPICES.
Mix some flour with some honey and a little orange-flower water ; add some yeast, ginger, and allspice, and make it into dough and knead it well; let it rise an hour in a warm place, then make it into cakes of different sizes ; bake them ; when cold they are fit for use* They require to be well kneaded.
FAIN D'EHCES D£ BHEIMS.
Wet some flour with a little water, some orange- flower water, some pounded sugar, and a little spice ; add some citron sliced and some aniseeds. Knead well together, let it rise^ and make into cakes.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Ginger + allspicetop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,620 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Milk + buttertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together81,222 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 6% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together122,858 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + biscuittop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together871 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + biscuittop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,873 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Flour and butter share little aroma chemistry, yet 122,858 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the allspice
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, milk, sugar, butter, egg, biscuit, ginger):
- Cinnamonbetter flavor fit
- Nutmegbetter flavor fit
- Cardamombetter flavor fit
- Allspicethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, milk, sugar, butter, egg, biscuit, ginger. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
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