Name: Barley Fruit Cake
Ingredients: 1 cup shortening; 1 cup sugar; 1 cup milk; ¼ teaspoon each of cloves and allspice; 3 tablespoons molasses; 1½ cups citron; 1 cup chopped raisins; ½ teaspoon baking soda

Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Barley Fruit Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

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.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cream the shortening and sugar together.
Add the milk and molasses to the creamed mixture.
Sift together the dry ingredients and add them alternately with the milk to the creamed mixture.
Lightly fold in the prepared fruit.
Pour the batter into a loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes.

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.

Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,874 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Clove + raisintop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,070 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Allspice + raisintop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,475 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,577 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

Swap the raisin

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

Vanillafits better
Figfits about as well
Raisinthe original
Orangefits about as well

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