Name: Hard Gingerbread
Ingredients: 1 cup molasses; ⅓ cup water; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1 teaspoon ground ginger; 1 heaping tablespoon shortening; ¼ teaspoon salt; Flour, enough to spread in pan

Why it works: Molasses and ginger are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,116 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Hard Gingerbread

Ingredients

Directions

In a bowl, combine molasses and water.
Dissolve baking soda in the mixture.
Add ground ginger, shortening, and salt.
Gradually mix in flour until the batter can be spread in a pan.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,116 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Flour + spreadtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together270 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ginger + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,564 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,429 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Molasses + spreadtop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).