Name: Ginger Cookies
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon vinegar; 1 teaspoon ground ginger; 1 teaspoon baking soda; boiling water; flour (to mix into a soft dough)

Why it works: Ginger and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,564 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Ginger Cookies

Ingredients

Directions

Dissolve the baking soda in a small amount of boiling water.
In a bowl, combine vinegar, ground ginger, and the dissolved baking soda.
Gradually add flour until the mixture forms a soft dough.

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.

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.

Ginger + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,564 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Vinegar + gingertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,126 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Vinegar + flourtop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,652 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).