Name: Milk Punch {Mrs. Filley}
Ingredients: 4 quarts of Jamaica rum; 3 quarts of water; 5 pints of boiling milk; 3 pounds of loaf sugar; 24 lemons; 2 nutmegs

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 ↓

Milk Punch {Mrs. Filley}

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Cut thin slices, or only the yellow part of the rinds, from the 24 lemons.
Let the lemon peels and the grated nutmegs infuse in 1 quart of rum for 24 hours in a warm place.

Combine

After 24 hours, add the juice of the lemons (removing seeds) to the water, sugar, and the infused rum.
Combine all ingredients in a large vessel.

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).
Rum + nutmegtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together646 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Rum + milktop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together967 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Rum + sugartop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,908 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,053 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Jamaica rum: Provides the main spirit flavour and carries the aroma of the infused peel and nutmeg.
Lemons: Add acidity and bright aroma from the peel oils, balancing the sweetness.
Loaf sugar: Adds sweetness that balances the acidity of the lemon juice.
Nutmegs: Contribute warm aroma to the rum as it infuses.
Milk: Adds richness and body, softening the sharpness of the citrus and spirit.