Name: Tincture of Rhubarb
Ingredients: 3 ounces of best rhubarb, pounded; ½ ounce of carraway seeds, pounded; 1 bottle of brandy; 1 tablespoon of tincture; 1 wine-glass of hot water

Why it works: Brandy and wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,427 recipes. Both carry gamma-nonanolactone, which smells coconut, sweet. The science ↓

Tincture of Rhubarb

Ingredients

3 ounces of best rhubarb, pounded
½ ounce of carraway seeds, pounded
1 bottle of brandy
1 tablespoon of tincture
1 wine-glass of hot water

Directions

Steep the rhubarb and carraway seeds in a bottle of brandy for ten days.
To use, mix 1 tablespoon of the tincture in a wine-glass of hot water.

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.

Brandy + winetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,427 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Rhubarb + winetop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together89 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-propylphenol (allspice, anise).
Rhubarb + brandytop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together67 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).