Name: Ginger Liqueur
Ingredients: 1 lb raisins; rind of 1 lemon; ¾ oz bruised ginger; 1 quart rye whiskey; 1 lb loaf sugar; ½ pint water

Why it works: Lemon and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,154 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Ginger Liqueur

Ingredients

Directions

Steep and strain

Combine raisins, lemon rind, and bruised ginger in a quart of rye whiskey and steep.
Strain the mixture.

Make the syrup and finish

In a separate pot, make a syrup by dissolving 1 lb of sugar in ½ pint of water.
Add the syrup to the strained liqueur.

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.

Lemon + gingertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,154 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Raisin + gingertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,242 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Raisin + ryetop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together50 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Ginger + ryetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together54 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 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

Raisins: Add fruity sweetness and body to the liqueur as they steep.
Lemon rind: Adds bright citrus aroma and flavor oils to the whiskey.
Ginger: Contributes warm, spicy aroma and flavor as it steeps in the whiskey.
Rye whiskey: Acts as the solvent that extracts flavor from the fruit, rind, and ginger.
Loaf sugar: Adds sweetness and a smoother, rounder mouthfeel when dissolved as syrup.