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Drink

Iced Punch

A chilled punch made with lemon, orange, sugar, brandy, rum, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and orange match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Iced Punch

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fruit

  1. Remove the outer rind from the lemons and the rinds of the oranges.

  2. Pour the juice of the fruit over the sugar.

  3. Press the fruit.

  4. Stir until thoroughly mixed.

Mix and strain

  1. Add boiling water until the mixture reaches the desired flavor.

  2. Stir in the brandy and rum.

  3. Beat the lemon pulp with the sugar.

  4. Strain the mixture.

  5. Add the spirits.

Finish and serve

  1. Beat the egg whites to froth.

  2. Add the frothy egg whites to the mixture.

  3. Serve in 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.

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 + orangetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

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

  3. Orange + rumtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together801 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + rumtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,908 recipes

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

  5. Orange + brandytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,706 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

Lemons
Supply sharp acidity and citrus flavor, with rind oils adding aroma.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sourness of the citrus juice.
China oranges
Add sweet citrus juice and aromatic oils from the rinds.
Brandy
Adds warm, fruity alcohol flavor and aroma to the punch.
Rum
Adds rich, sweet alcohol flavor and depth to the punch.
Egg whites (in the method)
Whipped to froth, they lighten the texture and add a foamy body.

The step that matters

Add the frothy egg whites to the mixture. Whipped egg white foam traps air and gives lightness. Adding it gently keeps the bubbles from collapsing, so the punch stays frothy rather than flat.

Swap the lemon

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, orange, 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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