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Gin Cocktail

A gin cocktail made with gum syrup, bitters, gin, curaçao, lemon, and ice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Syrup and gin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 127 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Gin Cocktail

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a small bar glass, combine gum syrup, bitters, gin, curaçao, and lemon.

  2. Add fine ice and shake well.

  3. Strain into a glass.

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. Syrup + gintop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together127 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Syrup + lemontop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,235 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Gin + lemontop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together306 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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

What each ingredient does

Gin
Provides the base spirit and the main structure and flavor of the drink.
Gum syrup
Adds sweetness and a smoother, rounder body that balances the alcohol.
Bitters
Adds aromatic bitterness that balances sweetness and adds depth.
Curaçao
Adds orange flavor and additional sweetness.
Lemon
Adds acidity and bright citrus aroma that lift the drink.
Fine ice
Chills and dilutes the drink, softening the alcohol and blending the flavors.

The step that matters

Shake well with the fine ice. Vigorous shaking chills the drink and melts some ice, diluting the alcohol and blending the ingredients. A short or weak shake leaves the drink warm, harsh, and unbalanced.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (syrup, gin):

  1. Limefits about as well
  2. Lemonthe original
  3. Vanillafits about as well
  4. Cherryfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against syrup, gin. 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.

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