Name: Moselle Cup
Ingredients: 1 bottle Moselle; ⅓ cup sherry or pale brandy; 4-5 thin slices of pineapple; peel of ½ lemon, very thin; lumps of ice; sugar to taste; 1 bottle iced soda or seltzer water

Why it works: Sherry and pineapple work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 228 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Moselle Cup

Ingredients

Directions

Pour the Moselle into a jug.
Add the sherry or pale brandy.
Incorporate the pineapple slices and lemon peel.
Add lumps of ice and sweeten to taste.
Before serving, add the iced soda or seltzer water.

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.

Sherry + pineappletop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together228 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Pineapple + lemontop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,964 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sherry + lemontop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,273 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Pineapple + sugartop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,841 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Moselle: Provides the base wine and its light, fruity flavour for the whole drink.
Sherry or pale brandy: Adds body and a dry, fortified warmth that strengthens the wine base.
Pineapple: Contributes bright fruit aroma and a touch of sweetness as it infuses the drink.
Soda or seltzer water: Adds lightness and fizz, diluting the drink while keeping it crisp.