Name: Molasses Custard
Ingredients: 3 eggs, yolks separated; 1 cup sugar; 2 cups molasses; 1 heaping teaspoon baking soda; a little vinegar; a pinch of salt; 1 egg-sized lump of butter; nutmeg to taste; 2 pie crusts

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 ↓

Molasses Custard

Ingredients

Directions

Beat the yolks of the eggs and sugar together until very light.
In a deep pan, boil the molasses for 6 minutes.
Stir in the baking soda dissolved in a little vinegar, salt, and butter until well mixed.
Flavor the mixture with nutmeg.
Prepare two pie crusts in pans and fill them with the molasses mixture.
Top with the beaten egg whites.

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).
Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together24,377 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together24,744 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Egg and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 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

Swap the nutmeg

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

Cinnamonfits better
Nutmegthe original
Allspicefits about as well
Gingerfits about as well

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