Name: Claret Cup
Ingredients: 1 quart bottle of claret; 1 bottle of soda water; 1 lemon, thinly sliced; 4 tablespoons powdered sugar; ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg; 1 liqueur glass of brandy; ⅓ cup sherry wine; large piece of ice

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 ↓

Claret Cup

Ingredients

Directions

In a large pitcher, combine the claret, soda water, lemon slices, powdered sugar, grated nutmeg, brandy, and sherry wine.
Stir well until the sugar is dissolved.
Add a large piece of ice and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving.

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 + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,318 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Brandy + sherrytop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,209 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Brandy + winetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,427 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Lemon + winetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,157 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Nutmeg + brandytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,311 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Claret: Forms the wine base that gives the drink its body, colour and main flavour.
Powdered sugar: Adds sweetness to balance the wine's acidity and tannins.
Lemon: Adds acidity and bright citrus aroma that lifts the wine.
Brandy: Adds alcohol strength and warm, aromatic depth to the blend.
Sherry wine: Adds extra fortified body and nutty, oxidised flavour notes.

Swap the nutmeg

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

Cinnamonfits better
Thymefits about as well
Nutmegthe original
Rosemaryfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, sugar, brandy, sherry, wine. 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.