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Drink

Lemon Drop Cocktail

A cocktail made with vodka, triple sec, simple syrup, and fresh lemon juice, served in a sugar‑rimmed glass.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Vodka and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 135 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Lemon Drop Cocktail

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Coat the rim of a cocktail glass with sugar and set aside. (Do this a few minutes ahead of time so the sugar can dry and adhere well to the glass.)

Mix and serve

  1. Add the remaining ingredients to a shaker and fill with ice.

  2. Shake, and strain into the prepared glass.

  3. Garnish with a lemon twist.

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. Vodka + syruptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together135 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Vodka + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together264 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

Vodka
Provides the base spirit, giving the drink its alcoholic strength and body.
Triple sec
Adds orange-citrus sweetness and aroma that balances the sour lemon juice.
Simple syrup
Adds sweetness that softens the sharpness of the lemon juice.
Fresh lemon juice
Supplies the tart acidity that defines the drink's bright, sour character.

The step that matters

Shake with ice and strain promptly. Shaking with plenty of ice chills and dilutes the drink to a balanced level while aerating it slightly. Sugar on the rim dries best when prepared a few minutes ahead, so it adheres rather than sliding into the drink.

Swap the lemon

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against vodka, syrup. 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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