Why it works: Syrup and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 25% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,143 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Milk Shake
Ingredients
Directions
Fill a glass with ½ cup shaved ice.
Add 2 oz. of your favorite syrup.
Fill the glass with milk.
Shake well and serve with straws.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
-
Syrup + milktop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,143 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
- Shaved ice
- Chills the drink and melts slightly as it is shaken, thinning and cooling the shake.
- Syrup
- Adds sweetness and flavor, and dissolves into the milk when shaken.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base and adds richness and body.
The step that matters
Shake well. Shaking chills the drink and blends the syrup evenly through the milk. If it is not shaken enough, the syrup can stay settled at the bottom and the sweetness will be uneven.
“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.
More milkshake recipes
You might also like
Orange Syrup47 recipes
Orgeat Syrup13 recipes
Simple Syrup13 recipes
Vegetable Soup350 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.