Name: Drop Ginger Cakes
Ingredients: 1 pint molasses; 1 pound brown sugar; 1 cup thick milk; 1 cup lard; 2 eggs; 1 tablespoon ginger; 1 tablespoon cinnamon; 1 tablespoon baking soda; 4 cups flour

Why it works: Ginger and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,380 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Drop Ginger Cakes

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 dough

Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, mix together the molasses, brown sugar, thick milk, and lard until well combined.
Add the eggs, ginger, cinnamon, and baking soda, and mix thoroughly.
Gradually add the flour, stirring until the dough is smooth.

Bake

Drop spoonfuls of the dough onto a greased baking sheet.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are firm.

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 + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,380 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,341 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,655 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Molasses: Adds moisture, deep sweetness and a dark flavour to the dough.
Brown sugar: Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cakes stay soft and browned.
Eggs: Bind the dough and add structure as the cakes set in the oven.
Flour: Provides the main structure that sets the cakes as they bake.
Baking soda: Reacts with the molasses's acidity to produce gas that lifts the cakes.
Lard: Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and gives a rich texture.

Swap the ginger

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

Nutmegfits better
Cardamomfits better
Allspicefits about as well
Gingerthe original

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