Name: Champagne Cup
Ingredients: 1 quart champagne; 1 bottle club soda; 1 pony glass (2 tablespoons) curaçao; 2 slices cucumber rind; a few strawberries (if in season); 3 or 4 slices pineapple

Why it works: Champagne and pineapple work together. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 97 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Champagne Cup

Ingredients

Directions

In a punch bowl, mix the champagne, club soda, and curaçao.
Add the cucumber rind, strawberries, and pineapple slices.
Serve in star-shaped champagne glasses.

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.

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.

Champagne + pineappletop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together97 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Cucumber + pineappletop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together151 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Champagne + cucumbertop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together55 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

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

What each ingredient does

Champagne: Provides the sparkling, dry base that carries the flavors of the cup.
Curaçao: Adds sweetness and a citrus-orange aroma to the drink.
Pineapple: Contributes fruity sweetness and aroma as it steeps in the cup.