Why it works: Butter and white wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,083 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓
American Gingerbread
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.
Prepare the batter
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, mix melted butter, flour, brown sugar, ground ginger, and egg yolks.
Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold them into the mixture.
Add rose water and white wine, and mix well.
Bake and finish
Spread the batter onto flat tin pans to about ¼ inch thick.
Bake until light brown, then cut into oblong pieces while warm.
Stand the pieces on end to cool, making them crisp.
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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Butter + white winetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,083 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Butter + flourtop 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 + gingertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,564 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour 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
- Eggs
- Whipped whites lighten the batter and give it an airy, tender structure as it bakes.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that holds the batter together as it sets in the oven.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and molasses flavour, and promotes browning on the surface.
- Fresh butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender texture in the baked gingerbread.
- Ground ginger
- Provides the spicy aroma that defines the gingerbread flavour.
The step that matters
Stand the pieces on end to cool. Cooling the pieces upright lets moisture escape evenly from all sides, which is what makes them crisp rather than soft.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, sugar, egg, rose, white wine):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, sugar, egg, rose, white wine. 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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