Name: Hard Ginger Cakes
Ingredients: 6 pints flour; 1 foot sugar (approximately 1 cup); 1 pint molasses; 5 tablespoons ginger; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1 pound lard; 6 tablespoons buttermilk

Why it works: Flour and buttermilk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,721 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Hard Ginger Cakes

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

Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C).

Make and shape the dough

In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, molasses, ginger, baking soda, lard, and buttermilk until well combined.
Roll the dough thin on a floured surface.
Cut into desired shapes and place on a baking sheet.

Bake

Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown.

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.

Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,721 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar + buttermilktop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,973 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Molasses + buttermilktop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together526 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,116 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour: Provides the structure that holds the cakes together as they bake.
Molasses: Adds moisture, sweetness, and a deep colour to the dough.
Ginger: Supplies the spicy aroma that defines these cakes.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidity in the dough to help it rise and lighten.
Lard: Adds fat for tenderness and a short, crumbly texture.
Buttermilk: Adds acidity and moisture, activating the baking soda and softening the crumb.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, molasses, buttermilk):

Cinnamonfits better
Jalapenofits better
Nutmegfits about as well
Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, molasses, buttermilk. 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.