Name: Ginger Cookies
Ingredients: 2 cups molasses; 1 cup lard; 1 cup warm water; 1 tablespoon ground ginger; 1 heaping teaspoon baking soda; ¼ teaspoon salt

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 ↓

Ginger Cookies

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the dough

In a large bowl, mix together the molasses, lard, and warm water until well combined.
Add the ground ginger, baking soda, and salt to the mixture and stir until smooth.

Bake

Drop spoonfuls of the dough onto a baking sheet.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden brown.

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.

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: Adds dark sweetness and a moist, chewy texture to the cookies.
Lard: Provides fat for tenderness and helps the cookies spread and brown.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic molasses to lift the dough and promote browning.
Ground ginger: Supplies the warm, spicy aroma that defines the cookie.

“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.