Name: Superior Ginger Cakes
Ingredients: 4 eggs; 1 cup sour milk; 1 quart molasses; 1 cup sugar; 1 cup butter; 1 cup lard; 1 tablespoon ginger; 1 tablespoon baking soda

Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Superior Ginger Cakes

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Beat the eggs and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Mix the butter into the flour until well combined.
In a separate bowl, combine the molasses and baking soda.
Add the molasses mixture to the egg and sugar mixture.
Gradually incorporate the flour mixture, handling the dough as little as possible.
Flour the board and rolling pin well, as the dough should be very soft.
Roll the dough to a thickness of ¼ inch and cut into shapes.
Bake in the preheated oven until golden.

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.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,116 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together14,054 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Sugar and ginger barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 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 ginger

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

Cinnamonfits better
Nutmegfits better
Gingerthe original
Clovefits about as well

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