Name: Ginger Snaps
Ingredients: ¾ cup lard; 1 pint molasses; 1 tablespoon ground ginger; 1 tablespoon baking soda; 1 teaspoon mustard; flour (as needed)

Why it works: Ginger and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,456 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Ginger Snaps

Ingredients

Directions

Melt the lard and set aside.
Dissolve the baking soda in a little warm water and mix it with the molasses.
Combine the molasses mixture with the melted lard.
Gradually add flour until the dough is firm.
Roll the dough as thin as possible and cut into desired shapes.

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.

Ginger + mustardtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,456 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Mustard + flourtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,066 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,116 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).