Name: Ginger or Molasses Cookies
Ingredients: 2 eggs, well beaten; 1 cup sugar; 1 tablespoon baking soda; 1 tablespoon ground ginger; 1 tablespoon vinegar; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 cup molasses; Flour, as needed

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 ↓

Ginger or Molasses Cookies

Ingredients

Directions

In a bowl, beat the eggs well.
Add sugar, baking soda, ground ginger, vinegar, salt, and molasses. Mix until combined.
Gradually add flour until the dough is soft enough to roll out.

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).
Ginger + molassestop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,116 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,564 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

Swap the ginger

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

Cinnamonfits better
Jalapenofits better
Nutmegfits about as well
Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, vinegar, molasses, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.