Why it works: Butter and white wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,083 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓
American Gingerbread
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the batter
Melt the butter and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, and pounded ginger.
In another bowl, beat the egg yolks and whites separately.
Mix the melted butter, rose water, and white wine into the dry ingredients.
Add the beaten egg yolks and mix well.
Fold in the beaten egg whites gently.
Bake and cut
Spread the mixture onto flat tin pans to a thickness of about ¼ inch.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until light brown.
While warm, cut into oblong pieces and place them on end to cool.
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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Butter + white winetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,083 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + gingertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,564 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 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
- Eggs
- Yolks add richness and binding, while whites folded in lighten the batter's texture.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the gingerbread together as it bakes.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness, moisture, and a deeper color as the gingerbread browns.
- Fresh butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and rich flavor.
- Pounded ginger
- Provides the spiced aroma that defines the gingerbread.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. Egg whites hold air only when beaten and handled gently; stirring vigorously deflates them, which makes the gingerbread denser and less light.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, sugar, egg, rose, white wine):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, sugar, egg, rose, white wine. 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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