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Roman Punch

A citrus punch made with lemonade, lemon extract, brandy, and Jamaica rum, served chilled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Roman Punch

Why it works: Brandy and rum are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,058 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Roman Punch

Ingredients

Directions

Make the punch

  1. Make 2 quarts of lemonade using fresh lemon juice.

  2. Add 1 tablespoon of lemon extract and mix well.

Freeze

  1. Freeze the mixture.

Serve

  1. Just before serving, add ½ pint of brandy and ½ pint of Jamaica rum for each quart of ice.

  2. Mix well and serve in high 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Brandy + rumtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,058 recipes

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

  2. Lemon + rumtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  3. Lemon + brandytop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,351 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

Lemonade
Provides the sweet-tart base and most of the liquid in the punch.
Lemon extract
Intensifies the citrus aroma and flavor of the punch.
Brandy
Adds alcohol, warmth and fruity aroma to the punch.
Jamaica rum
Adds sweet, molasses-like depth and aroma to the punch.

The step that matters

Adding the brandy and rum just before serving. Alcohol lowers the freezing point of a mixture, so spirits added before freezing would keep the punch from setting as intended. Adding them just before serving keeps their flavor and aroma fresh and the punch properly chilled.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Pineapplefits better
  2. Apricotfits better
  3. Vanillafits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against brandy, rum. 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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