Name: Molasses Pie
Ingredients: 1 cup sugar; 3 eggs; 2 tablespoons flour; 1 cup nuts; 1 cup molasses; Butter the size of an egg

Why it works: Sugar and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Molasses Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the filling

Cream together the sugar, butter, and eggs until well combined.
Add the molasses to the mixture.
Coat the nuts in flour and then add them to the mixture.

Bake

Pre-bake the pastry slightly, then fill it with the mixture.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°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.

Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + nutstop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,180 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Eggs: Bind the filling and help it set into a firm, sliceable custard when baked.
Molasses: Adds deep sweetness, dark color and a rich, slightly bitter flavor.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and a tender texture in the filling.
Flour: Lightly coats the nuts and helps thicken the filling so they stay suspended.
Nuts: Add crunch and texture that contrasts with the soft filling.

Swap the nuts

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

Almondfits better
Chestnutfits better
Walnutfits about as well
Nutsthe original

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