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Dessert

Gingerbread

A spiced sweet loaf made with flour, butter, syrup, treacle, sultanas, milk, sugar, ginger, baking soda, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Gingerbread

Why it works: Syrup and sugar match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Gingerbread

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

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.

Prepare the batter

  1. Sift the flour.

  2. Mix in the ginger and sultanas.

  3. In a pan, melt the syrup, treacle, sugar, and butter over low heat.

  4. Add the melted mixture to the flour.

  5. Heat the milk and dissolve the baking soda in it.

  6. Stir the mixture into the batter.

  7. Beat the mixture thoroughly until well combined.

Bake

  1. Pour into a prepared baking tin and bake at 350°F (175°C) for two hours or longer.

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.

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.

  1. Syrup + sugartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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
Provides the structure that holds the batter together as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavour.
Syrup
Adds sweetness and moisture, helping the gingerbread stay soft.
Treacle
Adds deep molasses-like flavour, colour and moisture.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure and richness.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic treacle and syrup to lift the batter as it bakes.

The step that matters

Dissolving the baking soda in the milk. Baking soda needs to be fully dissolved so it reacts evenly through the batter; clumps can leave bitter pockets and uneven rising.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, syrup, milk, sugar, egg):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Jalapenofits about as well
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, syrup, milk, sugar, egg. 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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