Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Ginger Beer
Ingredients
Directions
Make the brew
Combine sugar and bruised ginger in a small cask.
Add boiled water and let it sit for 1 day.
After a day, fill the cask with cold water.
Add yeast and cream of tartar.
Bottle
After 2 days, the ginger beer can be bottled.
If yeast is unavailable, substitute with 2 bottles of beer.
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.
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Ginger + beertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together210 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Sugar + gingertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together14,054 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Sugar + beertop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together699 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Ginger + creamtop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,137 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast, providing the fermentable sugar that produces carbonation and alcohol.
- Ginger
- Supplies the characteristic spicy aroma and flavour of the drink.
- Yeast
- Ferments the sugar into carbon dioxide, making the drink fizzy.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the brew, which helps the yeast ferment and adds a tangy edge.
The step that matters
Bottling after 2 days. Bottling too early can leave too much unfermented sugar, while bottling too late lets pressure build until bottles may burst. Carbon dioxide from fermentation needs time to build in sealed bottles.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cream, beer):
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Gingerthe original
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Peppermintfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cream, beer. 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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