Name: The Modern Flour Confectioner
Ingredients: 45 lbs treacle; 1 lb 2 oz carbonate of soda; ½ gallon cold water; 10 oz caraway seeds; 10 oz ground ginger; 2 lbs melted lard; household flour (as needed)

Why it works: Caraway and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,435 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

The Modern Flour Confectioner

Ingredients

Directions

Pour 45 lbs of treacle into a small trough.
Dissolve 1 lb 2 oz of carbonate of soda in ½ gallon of cold water.
Add 10 oz of caraway seeds and 10 oz of ground ginger to the treacle.
Mix in 2 lbs of melted lard and enough household flour to form a stiff dough.
Place one pailful of dough into a dough mixer and let it mix.
Do not keep the dough in the mixer too long to avoid it becoming dry and hard.

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.

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.

Caraway + flourtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,435 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Caraway + gingertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together288 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ginger + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,564 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).