Skip to main content

Cough Syrup

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Sugar and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,939 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Cough Syrup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Boil hops in water for 30 minutes.

  2. Strain the mixture.

  3. Add brown sugar, rock candy, and pounded licorice.

  4. Boil until thick.

  5. Stir in brandy.

  6. Bottle the syrup and store in a cool place.

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.

  1. Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Sugar + licoricetop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together76 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Hops + brandytop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-hex-3-en-1-ol (freshly cut grass green and herbaceous notes).

  4. Licorice + brandytop 43% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Hops + sugartop 43% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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 licorice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (hops, sugar, brandy):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Gingerfits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. Licoricethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against hops, sugar, brandy. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

You might also like

Vegetable SoupVegetable Soup350 recipesRaspberry VinegarRaspberry Vinegar214 recipesBrown Coffee with EggBrown Coffee with Egg175 recipesBlackberry CordialBlackberry Cordial129 recipes