Why it works: Ginger and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,380 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Parkin
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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Warm the butter in a saucepan until creamy.
In a large bowl, mix the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, and salt.
Make the batter
Add the treacle and milk to the dry ingredients and mix well.
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan.
Bake
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
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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Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,380 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, giving the parkin a tender, moist crumb.
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the crust brown.
- Treacle or molasses
- Adds dark sweetness, moisture, and the characteristic deep colour and flavour.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour and sugars so the batter mixes into a smooth, pourable mix.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking, lifting the batter so it rises and stays light.
The step that matters
Checking for doneness with a skewer. Treacle and sugar-rich batters brown quickly on the outside while the centre stays wet. Testing the centre with a skewer confirms the cake is set through before removing it from the oven.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, sugar, molasses, milk, cinnamon):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Clovefits about as well
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, sugar, molasses, milk, cinnamon. 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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