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Rhine Wine Cup

A chilled cocktail of Rhine wine, curaçao, gin, soda, cucumber rind, mint, citrus, egg whites, water, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Jacqueline Harrison Smith (ed.) · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and orange match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Rhine Wine Cup

Ingredients

Directions

Mix the base

  1. Combine one quart of Rhine wine, one wineglass of curaçao, and one wineglass of gin in a large-mouthed pitcher.

  2. Add one large piece of ice to the mixture.

  3. Add the whites of three eggs, the rind of one or two lemons, and the juice of eight lemons and three oranges.

  4. Add three pints of water and 1½ pounds of sugar, adjusting to taste.

Finish and serve

  1. Just before serving, add two short squirts from a siphon of plain soda.

  2. Optionally leave a small piece of cucumber rind in the mixture for a few minutes only.

  3. Serve in Apollinaris glasses with a few sprigs of mint.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

168Calories
9 gProtein
6 gFat
23 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Cucumber1/2 cup sliced (52g)16
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Ginnot 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 Jacqueline Harrison Smith (ed.). 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. Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Cucumber + orangetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together325 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Gin + cucumbertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together23 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

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

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

Lemon and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 44,316 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

Rhine wine
Forms the main liquid base and gives the punch its body and mild, fruity character.
Gin
Adds alcoholic strength and a dry botanical aroma to the punch.
Curaçao
Adds orange aroma and sweetness that complements the citrus juices.
Eggs
Egg whites add a light froth and a silky, smoother texture to the punch.
Lemons
Lemon juice supplies acidity that brightens the drink and balances the sugar.
Sugar (in the method)
Sweetens the punch and offsets the sharpness of the citrus juices.

The step that matters

Add the soda just before serving. Carbonation escapes quickly from a liquid, so adding soda early leaves the punch flat. Adding it last keeps the fizz that makes the drink lively.

“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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