Why it works: Butter and milk 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 the batter
In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, ginger, candied peel, and carbonate of soda.
In a saucepan, warm treacle, milk, and butter until melted.
Mix the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients, then add the beaten eggs.
Bake
Partly fill a greased Yorkshire pudding tin with the batter.
Smooth the top with a knife dipped in hot water and score with a knife.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 1.5 hours.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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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 structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Treacle
- Adds dark sweetness, moisture and the characteristic rich flavour.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set.
- Carbonate of soda
- Reacts with the acidic treacle to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the crumb.
- Moist sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cake brown.
The step that matters
Adding the carbonate of soda to the dry ingredients. Carbonate of soda needs an acid, such as the treacle, to release gas for rising. Mixing it evenly through the dry ingredients keeps the rise uniform and prevents pockets of bitter, unreacted soda.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, egg, butter, milk):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Jalapenofits better
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, egg, butter, milk. 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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