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Lalla Rookh Punch

A chilled punch made with milk, cream, egg yolks, sugar, and rum.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Lalla Rookh Punch

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Heat the milk in a double boiler until hot.

  2. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until well combined.

  3. Stir the egg mixture into the hot milk and heat to boiling point.

  4. Cool the mixture, then add the cream.

Freeze and serve

  1. Partly freeze the mixture, then stir in the rum and finish freezing.

  2. 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. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Milk + rumtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together967 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

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

  4. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 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

Egg yolks
Thicken the mixture as they set with heat, giving a rich, smooth body.
Sugar
Sweetens the punch and softens the texture of the frozen mixture.
Cream
Adds fat for a rich, smooth mouthfeel.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the yolks thicken.
Rum
Adds flavour and, as alcohol, keeps the frozen mixture softer.

The step that matters

Heating the egg mixture to boiling point. Egg yolks thicken as they heat, but if the mixture overheats it can curdle or turn grainy. Stirring constantly and heating gently keeps the custard smooth before it is cooled.

“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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