Why it works: Clove and cardamom match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,114 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Gingerbread
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the dough
In a basin, combine flour, sugar, cloves, cardamom, and beaten egg.
Dissolve bicarbonate of soda in a small amount of water and add to the mixture.
Pour in hot butter and treacle, then knead the dough well.
Cover the basin with a cloth and let it rest in a cool place for 4 to 5 hours.
Shape and bake
Butter baking sheets and take small quantities of the mixture to place on the sheets.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 20 minutes.
The cakes should be dry and crisp but not too darkly colored.
Store
Store in biscuit tins.
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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Clove + cardamomtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,114 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Flour + cardamomtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together643 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 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 + clovetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,671 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the dough so the cakes hold their shape while baking.
- Egg
- Binds the dry ingredients and adds richness to the dough.
- Bicarbonate of soda
- Reacts to lighten the dough and help it spread and set as it bakes.
- Treacle
- Adds sweetness, moisture and a deep color to the cakes.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and flavor, and helps the dough come together.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the dough and helps the cakes brown and crisp in the oven.
The step that matters
Resting the dough. Resting the dough for 4 to 5 hours in a cool place lets the flour fully hydrate and the dough firm up, making it easier to shape and roll thin without tearing.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, cardamom, egg, butter):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Turmericfits better
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, cardamom, egg, butter. 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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