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Drink

Punch, Swig

A punch made with eggs, milk, and fortified wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and sherry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,479 recipes. Both carry 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine, which smells cocoa, roasted. The science ↓

Punch, Swig

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Heat coals and dissolve the sack.

  2. In a skillet, boil the milk and let it cool.

  3. Whisk the eggs in a bowl.

Combine and heat

  1. Combine the cooled milk and sack with the eggs.

  2. Heat the mixture gently, stirring until well combined.

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. Milk + sherrytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,479 recipes

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

  2. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Egg + sherrytop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,324 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Egg proteins set when heated, thickening the punch into a rich, custard-like body.
Milk
Provides moisture and creaminess, diluting the eggs into a smooth, drinkable base.
Sack
Adds wine flavour and aroma, with its sweetness and acidity balancing the rich eggs and milk.

The step that matters

Heat the mixture gently, stirring until well combined.. Egg proteins begin to set around 70°C (160°F). If the mixture heats too fast or stops being stirred, the eggs can curdle or scramble, leaving lumps instead of a smooth, thick punch.

“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.

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