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 ↓
Ginger Bread
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 the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
Add the molasses and milk, mixing well.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, ginger, and baking soda.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until smooth.
Beat in the eggs one at a time.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan.
Bake for 30-40 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.
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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Molasses + sugartop 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
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the cake-like crumb together as it sets.
- Molasses
- Adds moisture, dark color, and a deep sweetness to the crumb.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and rich flavor in the batter.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as they set during baking.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic molasses to produce gas that helps the gingerbread rise.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps tenderize the crumb when creamed with butter.
The step that matters
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Adding the dry ingredients gradually and stirring until smooth keeps the batter evenly blended and prevents lumps, so the gas from the baking soda is distributed evenly for a uniform rise.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, molasses, milk, butter, sugar, egg):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Gingerthe original
- Allspicefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, molasses, milk, butter, 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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