Name: Quick Beer
Ingredients: 14 quarts cold water; 1 quart molasses; 1 quart hop yeast; 4 tablespoons ginger

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 ↓

Quick Beer

Ingredients

14 quarts cold water
1 quart molasses
1 quart hop yeast
4 tablespoons ginger

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the brew

Mix the cold water, molasses, hop yeast, and ginger well.
Strain the mixture through a fine sieve.

Bottle and rest

Bottle it immediately.
It will be ready for use in 24 hours.

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.

Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,116 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Molasses: Supplies sugars that the yeast ferments, adding depth of flavour.
Hop yeast: Ferments the sugars, producing carbonation and alcohol in the drink.
Ginger: Adds spicy aroma and warm flavour.

“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.