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Drink

Cool Tankard or Beer Cup

A chilled drink made with mild ale, white wine, brandy, capillaire, lemon juice, nutmeg, and herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and borage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 102 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Cool Tankard or Beer Cup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a large pitcher, combine the mild ale, white wine, brandy, capillaire, and lemon juice.

  2. Grate nutmeg on top to taste.

  3. Garnish with a sprig of borage or balm.

  4. Serve chilled.

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.

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

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  2. Nutmeg + boragetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together76 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. White wine + brandytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together620 recipes

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

  5. White wine + lemontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,832 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

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

What each ingredient does

Mild ale
Forms the light, low-alcohol base that gives the drink its body and volume.
White wine
Adds acidity and fruity aroma, lightening the drink's overall sweetness and strength.
Brandy
Contributes alcohol strength and warming aroma to the blended drink.
Capillaire
Provides sweetness, balancing the acidity of the lemon and wine.
Lemon juice
Adds bright acidity that sharpens the flavours and balances the sweetness.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Thymefits about as well
  2. Marjoramfits about as well
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against white wine, brandy, 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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