Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. 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.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and ginger.
Rub in the lard until well combined.
In another bowl, warm the treacle and milk together.
Add the unbeaten egg to the flour mixture, then pour in the warm treacle and milk.
Mix until smooth and pour into flat baking tins.
Bake
Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick 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.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,116 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the main structure that holds the gingerbread together as it bakes.
- Treacle (molasses)
- Adds moisture, dark colour and deep sweetness to the crumb.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and helps give the cake its set structure.
- Lard (or butter)
- Adds fat that shortens the crumb, giving a tender, crumbly texture.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic treacle to help the gingerbread rise and lighten.
The step that matters
Adding the warm treacle and milk. Pouring warm liquid into the flour mixture and mixing until smooth should be done just until combined. Overmixing develops gluten, which can make the gingerbread tough and dense rather than tender.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, molasses, milk, egg, butter):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Gingerthe original
- Allspicefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, molasses, milk, 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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