Name: Champagne Cup
Ingredients: 1 quart champagne; 1 pint Apollinaris (or soda water); 1 glass sherry; 1 slice cucumber; 1 glass white curaçao; 1 bunch mint; Juice of 1 orange; Juice of 1 lemon; Large piece of ice

Why it works: Champagne and sherry share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 61 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Champagne Cup

Ingredients

Directions

In a large pitcher, combine the champagne, Apollinaris, sherry, white curaçao, orange juice, and lemon juice.
Add the cucumber slice and mint leaves, then stir gently to mix the ingredients.
Serve over a large piece of ice.

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.

Champagne + sherrytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together61 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,634 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Mint + lemontop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,998 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Cucumber + minttop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together884 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Mint + orangetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together549 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Champagne: Provides the sparkling base and light, dry wine character that carries the drink.
Sherry: Adds depth and a dry, nutty wine note to the blend.
White curaçao: Adds sweetness and orange aroma that balances the citrus and wine.
Orange juice: Adds fruity sweetness and aroma along with some acidity.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the drink and balances sweetness.
Mint: Adds a fresh aroma that lifts the drink.

Swap the cucumber

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (champagne, sherry, mint, orange, lemon):

Carrotfits about as well
Shallotfits about as well
Capsicumfits about as well
Cucumberthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against champagne, sherry, mint, orange, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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.