Name: Claret Syrup
Ingredients: 52 pounds granulated sugar; 1 gallon water; ½ gallon cherry syrup; 1 gallon claret wine; benzoate (optional)

Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Claret Syrup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

Combine 52 pounds of granulated sugar with 1 gallon of water in a pot.
Bring the mixture to a boil and then filter it.
Cool the syrup to 150°F (65°C).

Add the flavouring

Stir in ½ gallon of cherry syrup and 1 gallon of claret wine.
If using benzoate, reduce the sugar to 24 pounds and dilute the syrup 2 to 1.

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.

Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,842 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Cherry + winetop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together423 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).
Cherry + syruptop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together339 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar + cherrytop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,598 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Syrup + winetop 30% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together381 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

Granulated sugar: Provides sweetness and body, and makes up most of the syrup's mass.
Cherry syrup: Adds fruit flavour and sweetness to the syrup.
Claret wine: Adds tannin, acidity and deep red wine flavour.

The step that matters

Cool the syrup to 150°F (65°C) before stirring in the flavourings. Adding cherry syrup and wine to very hot syrup can drive off the volatile aromas of the wine and fruit, dulling the flavour. Cooling first keeps the added ingredients fresh and well mixed.