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Molasses Posset

A sweet, buttery drink made from molasses, ginger, butter, and lemon or vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,154 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Molasses Posset

Ingredients

Directions

Make the posset

  1. In a saucepan, combine molasses, ginger, and butter.

  2. Set over low heat and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring frequently. Do not let it boil.

  3. Stir in the lemon juice or vinegar.

  4. Cover the pan. Let it sit by the fire for 5 more minutes.

Serve

  1. Serve warm or store for occasional use.

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. Ginger + lemontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,154 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Ginger + buttertop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,152 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  5. Molasses + buttertop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,123 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Molasses
Provides the dark color, deep sweetness and rich flavor that define the posset.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, rich texture and helps the mixture feel silky.
Lemon juice or vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the sweet molasses and balances its flavor.

The step that matters

Do not let it boil. Simmering gently keeps the molasses and butter from scorching and separating, while boiling can burn sugars and make the texture grainy.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Coconutfits better
  2. Orangefits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, ginger, 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.

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