Why it works: Allspice and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,620 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Gingerbread
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the dough
Rub the butter or lard into the flour.
Add the pimento, mixed spice, ginger, and baking soda.
Mix the brown sugar and water together, then stir in the treacle.
Combine this liquid with the flour mixture to form a soft dough.
Bake and serve
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Pour the dough into a well-greased baking tin, spreading it to about ½ inch thick.
Bake for about 30 minutes.
Remove the tin from the oven and let the gingerbread cool in the tin.
Cut into blocks about three inches square and serve.
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.
-
Allspice + gingertop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,620 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + allspicetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,302 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Flour + gingertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,564 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
- Forms the bulk of the dough and provides the structure that holds the gingerbread together.
- Butter or lard
- Rubbed into the flour to add richness and a tender, crumbly texture.
- Treacle
- Adds moisture, dark sweetness and a deep color to the dough.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the crumb brown during baking.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidity in the treacle and sugar to lift and open the crumb.
The step that matters
Combining the liquid with the flour mixture. Mixing the syrupy liquid in gently until just a soft dough forms keeps the texture tender. Overworking develops gluten, which can make the gingerbread tough and dense.
Swap the allspice
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, ginger, sugar, butter):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Turmericfits better
- Allspicethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, ginger, sugar, 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.
More gingerbread recipes
You might also like
Ginger Cookies213 recipes
Ginger Cake93 recipes
Soft Ginger Bread85 recipes
Soft Ginger Cake56 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.