Name: Drop Ginger Cakes
Ingredients: 1 pint baking molasses; 1 cup lard; 1 cup brown sugar; 1 teaspoon ground ginger; ½ teaspoon ground cloves; 1 cup thick milk; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 2 lbs all-purpose flour

Why it works: Ginger and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,038 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Drop Ginger Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

In a large bowl, mix together the baking molasses, lard, brown sugar, ground ginger, ground cloves, thick milk, and baking soda.
Gradually add the flour until well combined.

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.

Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,038 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Molasses + clovetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,483 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,116 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, sugar, ginger, milk, flour):

Cinnamonfits better
Cardamomfits better
Clovethe original
Nutmegfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, sugar, ginger, milk, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.