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Drink

Moselle Cup

A cocktail made with wine, sparkling water, brandy, citrus juice, cucumber or borage, and no sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Ronald · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and borage share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 44 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Moselle Cup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Add 1 quart of Braunberger or Zeltinger.

  2. Add 1 pony of brandy.

  3. Add juice of 1 orange.

  4. Add juice of 1 lemon.

  5. Add 1 slip of borage or a slice of cucumber.

  6. Add 1 pint of Apollinaris.

  7. Do not add sugar.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

90Calories
2 gProtein
0 gFat
22 gCarbs

Counts 3 of 5 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Cucumber1/2 cup sliced (52g)16
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Brandynot in our table0
Boragenot 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 Mary Ronald. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. Cucumber + boragetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together44 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

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

  3. Lemon + boragetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together102 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Cucumber + lemontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Orange + boragetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together32 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Braunberger
Provides the wine base, giving the drink its main body and flavour.
Brandy
Adds spirit strength and warm aroma to the wine base.
Orange
Adds citrus acidity and fresh aroma that brighten the wine.
Lemon
Adds sharp acidity that balances the wine and the sparkling water.
Apollinaris
Adds carbonation, creating lightness and a crisp, refreshing texture.

Swap the cucumber

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (brandy, orange, lemon, borage):

  1. Arrowrootfits better
  2. Beetrootfits about as well
  3. Cucumberthe original
  4. Lettucefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against brandy, orange, lemon, borage. 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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