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Dessert

Choice Ginger- Bread

A moist gingerbread loaf made with molasses, brown sugar, lard, sour milk, spices, and optional dried fruit.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Choice Ginger- Bread

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the batter

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a large bowl, mix molasses, brown sugar, and lard until well combined.

  3. Stir in sour milk, baking soda, cream of tartar, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves.

  4. Beat in eggs until mixture is smooth.

  5. Fold in currants, raisins, and citron if desired.

Bake

  1. Pour batter into greased baking pan and bake for about 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Molasses
Adds dark color, moisture and a deep, slightly bitter sweetness to the crumb.
Sour milk
Its acidity reacts with the baking soda to lift and soften the batter.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses to produce gas that leavens the cake.
Cream of tartar
Adds acidity that supports the leavening reaction and helps keep the crumb tender.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set in the oven.
Lard
Provides fat that tenderises the crumb and carries the spice flavours.

The step that matters

Stir in the sour milk and baking soda, then bake promptly. Baking soda starts producing gas as soon as it meets the acidic sour milk and molasses. Delaying the bake lets that gas escape, which can leave the gingerbread flat and dense.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, sugar, milk, cream, ginger, cinnamon, egg):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits about as well
  3. Clovethe original
  4. Allspicefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, sugar, milk, cream, ginger, cinnamon, egg. 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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