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Drink

Claret Punch

A punch made with claret wine, rum, citrus rind, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cocoa, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Martin, Maria Ewing, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Claret Punch

Ingredients

Directions

Make the punch

  1. Take the yellow rind of 3 lemons, add it to 3 pounds granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, 1 tablespoon ground cloves, and 2 grated nutmegs. Pour over all 2 quarts boiling water, and let stand 1 hour. The spices should be put in a thin bag.

  2. Just before serving, add 1 pint Jamaica rum and 3 bottles of claret. Add 3 or 4 sliced oranges.

Make the cocoa

  1. Moisten 4 tablespoons cocoa with a little cold milk and add it to 1 quart boiling milk; stir and boil about 5 minutes.

Make the coffee

  1. The best coffee is made by both browning and grinding just before it is needed; allow 1 heaping tablespoon to each person and 1 to the pot, mix with a little white of egg in cold water, and pour over it 1 cup for each person of freshly boiling water; let simmer 5 minutes and serve.

  2. For Cafe au Lait pour into a cup at the same time equal quantities of scalding coffee and scalding milk.

  3. Vienna coffee is served with whipped cream.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

445Calories
11 gProtein
18 gFat
64 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
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.

By Martin, Maria Ewing, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp. 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. See the original page.

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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Cinnamon + orangetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,437 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

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

  5. Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Granulated sugar
Provides sweetness and helps balance the sharpness of the citrus and wine.
Claret
Gives the punch its wine flavour and body.
Cocoa
Supplies the chocolate flavour and dark colour of the drink.
Lemons
Add bright acidity, and the rind adds aroma.
Oranges
Add fruity acidity and aroma to the punch.
Ground cinnamon
Adds warm aroma to the spiced punch.

The step that matters

Moistening the cocoa. Cocoa powder clumps when added dry to hot liquid, so moistening it with cold milk first makes a smooth paste that blends evenly. Boiling it for a few minutes then fully dissolves it and mellows the chocolate flavour.

Swap the cocoa

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cinnamon, milk, lemon, nutmeg, orange):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Pistachiofits better
  3. Chestnutfits better
  4. Cocoathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cinnamon, milk, lemon, nutmeg, orange. 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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