Name: White Mead Wine
Ingredients: 17 gallons cold soft water; 6 quarts white currants; 30 pounds honey; 3 ounces white tartar (cream of tartar); 2 handfuls balm; 2 handfuls sweet briar; 1 gallon white brandy

Why it works: Cream and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,635 recipes. Both carry 2-heptanol, which smells bitter, floral. The science ↓

White Mead Wine

Ingredients

Directions

Combine 17 gallons of cold soft water with 6 quarts of white currants and allow to ferment.
Mix 30 pounds of honey with 3 ounces of white tartar until well combined.
Add 2 handfuls each of balm and sweet briar to the mixture.
Stir in 1 gallon of white brandy.

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.

Cream + brandytop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,635 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Honey + brandytop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together169 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (sweet).
White currant + brandytop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Honey + creamtop 30% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together738 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
White currant + creamtop 32% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together7 recipes

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

What each ingredient does

Honey: Provides the sugar that ferments into alcohol, and sweetness in the finished drink.
White currants: Add fruit acidity and aroma, and provide natural yeasts and sugars to start fermentation.
White brandy: Raises the alcohol content and helps preserve the finished drink.
White tartar (cream of tartar): Adds acidity that brightens flavor and helps stabilize the mixture.