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Dessert

Ginger Bread

A sweet loaf made with molasses, coffee sugar, ginger, allspice, cinnamon, and lard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,536 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Ginger Bread

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the batter

  1. Beat the lard until creamy.

  2. Add the sugar and blend together.

  3. Stir in the molasses and a little of the flour, then add the spices.

  4. Dissolve the baking soda in the boiling water and add to the mixture.

  5. Gradually beat in the remaining flour.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake at 300°F (150°C) until done.

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.

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. Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Ginger + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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, dark colour and moisture to the batter.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the gingerbread together as it bakes.
Lard
Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and carries the spice flavour.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses to produce gas that lightens the cake.
Coffee sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown during baking.

The step that matters

Dissolving the baking soda in the boiling water. Baking soda needs to be fully dissolved so it spreads evenly through the batter. Clumps can leave bitter, soapy spots and uneven rising.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, coffee, sugar, flour, allspice, cinnamon):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Clovefits better
  3. Cardamomfits about as well
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, coffee, sugar, flour, allspice, cinnamon. 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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