Why it works: Ginger and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,324 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Hard Gingerbread
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.
Prepare the dough
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
Mix in the cream of tartar and baking soda. Add ginger and nutmeg to taste.
Gradually add flour until the dough is firm enough to roll out.
Shape and bake
Roll out the dough and cut into desired shapes.
Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Ginger + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,324 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Butter
- Creams with sugar to give the dough richness and a tender, short texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the dough and, creamed with butter, helps create its structure and browning.
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and add structure as they set during baking.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the dough, stabilising its texture and reacting with baking soda to aid rising.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the dough to produce gas, lightening the texture and aiding browning.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure, and is added until the dough is firm enough to roll out.
The step that matters
Gradually add flour until the dough is firm enough to roll out. Flour absorbs liquid and builds gluten and starch structure. Adding too much makes the dough dry and tough, while too little leaves it too soft to roll and cut cleanly.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, cream, nutmeg, flour):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Capersfits better
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, cream, nutmeg, 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.
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