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 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, mix the melted butter, flour, brown sugar, pounded ginger, and rose water.
Beat the eggs separately, then add them to the mixture.
Mix everything well and beat for an hour.
Bake and finish
Spread the batter onto flat tin pans to a thickness of about ¼ inch.
Bake 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).
-
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
- Add structure and richness, binding the batter as they set in the oven.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the batter as its starches set during baking.
- Fresh butter
- Adds fat and tenderness, carrying flavor through the batter.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the surface brown during baking.
- Pounded ginger
- Provides the main spiced aroma that defines the gingerbread.
The step that matters
Beat the batter for an hour. Long beating incorporates air and develops the gluten in the flour, which affects the final texture. Beating too little leaves the batter dense and uneven, while overworking can make the baked gingerbread tough.
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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