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Drink

Beer

A fermented beverage made with molasses, ginger, yeast, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Molasses and ginger are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,116 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Beer

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Mix all ingredients together in a large container.

  2. Let the mixture stand for 12 hours before bottling.

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.

  1. Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Molasses + creamtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,408 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Cream + gingertop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,137 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Molasses
Provides sweetness and a deep flavor, and feeds the yeast as it ferments.
Ginger
Adds the sharp, spicy aroma and flavor that defines the drink.
Yeast
Ferments the sugars into carbon dioxide, which gives the drink its fizz.

The step that matters

Let the mixture stand for 12 hours before bottling. During this rest the yeast ferments the sugars and produces carbon dioxide. Bottling too early leaves the drink flat and sweet, while waiting too long can build up enough pressure to make bottles burst.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, cream):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, cream. 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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