Name: Gingerbread
Ingredients: 2 pounds treacle; 4 ounces orange, thinly sliced; 4 ounces lemon, thinly sliced; 4 ounces citron, thinly sliced; 4 ounces candied ginger, thinly sliced; 1 ounce coriander seeds; 1 ounce caraway seeds; 1 ounce ground ginger; flour (enough to make a soft paste)

Why it works: Lemon and coriander match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,498 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Gingerbread

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.

Prepare the dough

Mix treacle, orange, lemon, citron, candied ginger, coriander seeds, caraway seeds, and ground ginger in a bowl.
Add enough flour to form a soft paste.

Shape and bake

Shape the mixture into cakes and place them on tin plates.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until done.

Store

Store in a covered earthen vessel to keep it dry for several months.

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.

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.

Lemon + coriandertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,498 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,634 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Ginger + coriandertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,505 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Orange + gingertop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,833 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Lemon + gingertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,154 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Treacle: Provides sweetness, dark color, and moisture that binds the paste together.
Flour: Thickens the treacle mixture into a soft paste that holds its shape when formed into cakes.
Candied ginger: Adds sweetness and a chewy texture along with spicy aroma.
Ground ginger: Contributes warm, spicy aroma and flavor.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, ginger, coriander, caraway, flour):

Limefits better
Orangethe original
Avocadofits less well
Raisinfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, ginger, coriander, caraway, 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.