Name: Plain or London Gin
Ingredients: 700 gallons second rectification; 70 lbs German juniper berries; 70 lbs coriander seeds; 31 lbs almond cake; 1½ lbs angelica root; 6 lbs liquorice powder

Why it works: Coriander and angelica share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 44 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓

Plain or London Gin

Ingredients

Directions

Combine 700 gallons of second rectification with the other ingredients.
Add 70 lbs of German juniper berries.
Incorporate 70 lbs of coriander seeds.
Mix in 31 lbs of almond cake.
Add 1½ lbs of angelica root.
Finally, include 6 lbs of liquorice powder.

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.

Coriander + angelicatop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together44 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Almond + angelicatop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together135 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Coriander + almondtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together563 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).