Name: Very Good Punch
Ingredients: 2 pounds loaf sugar; 2 cups strong black tea; 2 cups brandy; 2 cups rum; 4 oranges, juice only; 2 bottles champagne; pounded ice

Why it works: Rum and champagne match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 137 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Very Good Punch

makes 2 gallons

Ingredients

Directions

Mix the sugar, tea, brandy, rum, and orange juice together well.
Add pounded ice when ready to serve.

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.

Rum + champagnetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together137 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Brandy + rumtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,058 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Brandy + champagnetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together169 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Rum + orangetop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together801 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Black tea + rumtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Loaf sugar: Dissolves into the liquid to provide sweetness that balances the acidity and alcohol.
Strong black tea: Adds tannins that give the punch a dry, structured bitterness.
Brandy: Contributes alcohol and aromatic depth to the punch.
Rum: Adds alcohol and a rich, sweet-toned aroma.
Oranges: Supply citric acidity and fresh aroma that brighten the sweetness.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, black tea, brandy, rum, champagne):

Vanillafits better
Pineapplefits better
Strawberryfits better
Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, black tea, brandy, rum, champagne. 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.