Name: Punch As Made At the Black Tavern, Bristol
Ingredients: 1 small ladleful of lemon juice; juice of 1 lime (if available); 2 small ladlefuls of old rum; 1 quart of fresh cold spring water (for cold punch) or boiling water (for hot punch); half a lime or a little lemon peel (for garnish)

Why it works: Lemon and lime match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,289 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Punch As Made At the Black Tavern, Bristol

Ingredients

1 small ladleful of lemon juice
juice of 1 lime (if available)
2 small ladlefuls of old rum
1 quart of fresh cold spring water (for cold punch) or boiling water (for hot punch)
half a lime or a little lemon peel (for garnish)

Directions

Combine the lemon juice and lime juice in a bowl.
Add the old rum.
For cold punch, mix in the fresh cold spring water. For hot punch, mix in the boiling water.
Garnish with half a lime or a little lemon peel 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 + limetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,289 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Lime + rumtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together412 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Lemon + rumtop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,341 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Old rum: Provides the main spirit flavor and aroma that defines the punch.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that balances the sweetness and brightens the punch.
Lime juice: Adds acidity and a fresh citrus aroma to the punch.