Why it works: Lemon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Fine Milk Punch
Ingredients
Directions
Make the punch
Pare off the yellow rind of nine large lemons, and steep it for twenty-four hours in a quart of brandy or rum.
Mix the steeped rind with the juice of the lemons, a pound and a half of loaf-sugar, two grated nutmegs, and a quart of water.
Add a quart of rich unskimmed milk, made boiling hot, and strain the whole through a jelly-bag.
Serve and store
Use as soon as it is cold, or make a larger quantity in the above proportions and bottle it.
It will keep several months.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
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
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
| Nutmeg | 1 tsp ground (2.2g) | 12 |
| Brandy | not in our table | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
-
Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,685 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Brandy + nutmegtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,311 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
-
Brandy + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,738 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Brandy
- Its alcohol extracts the oils from the lemon rind and helps preserve the punch.
- Lemons
- Their juice adds acidity that balances the sugar and sharpens the flavour.
- Rich unskimmed milk
- Its proteins curdle with the acid, which clarifies the punch as it is strained.
- Loaf-sugar (in the method)
- Adds sweetness that balances the acidity of the lemon juice.
- Nutmeg
- Contributes warm aromatic flavour to the punch.
The step that matters
Add the boiling hot milk and strain. Adding hot milk to the acidic lemon mixture makes the milk curdle, which clarifies the punch as it is strained through a jelly-bag. Letting the milk cool or straining too early leaves the punch cloudy.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (brandy, milk, nutmeg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against brandy, milk, nutmeg. 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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