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Drink

Christmas Cocktail

A chilled pineapple and citrus cocktail with frothy egg whites, served over crushed ice and topped with a cherry.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and lime match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,289 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Christmas Cocktail

Time5 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the cocktail

  1. Cook sugar and water for 5 minutes; chill.

  2. Shake all ingredients except cherries in jar until light and frothy.

Serve

  1. Top with a cherry.

  2. Serve immediately.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

319Calories
10 gProtein
6 gFat
65 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Cherry1 cup (138g)87
Pineapple1 cup chunks (165g)82
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Limejuice of 1 lime (44ml)11
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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. Lemon + limetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,289 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Pineapple + limetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together469 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Pineapple + lemontop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,964 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

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

  5. Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Whip into a light, frothy foam that gives the cocktail its airy texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the drink and dissolves into the syrup that balances the citrus.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the drink and balances the sweetness.
Pineapple juice
Supplies fruity sweetness and body to the drink.

The step that matters

Shaking until light and frothy. Shaking the egg whites with the other ingredients and ice traps air in the proteins, creating foam. Shaking too briefly leaves the drink flat and watery, while the foam needs to be served soon because it gradually collapses.

Swap the pineapple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, lemon, lime, egg):

  1. Orangefits better
  2. Avocadofits better
  3. Blueberryfits better
  4. Pineapplethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, lemon, lime, egg. 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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