Name: Whisky Punch
Ingredients: 6 quarts water; 1 quart strong green tea; 2 pounds sugar; 2 dozen sliced lemons; 2 sliced pineapples; 1 bottle extract of vanilla; 1 grated nutmeg; 1 gallon whisky

Why it works: Pineapple and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 911 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Whisky Punch

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the punch

In a large container, combine the water and strong green tea.
Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.
Mix in the sliced lemons and pineapples.
Pour in the extract of vanilla and grated nutmeg.
Finally, add the whisky and stir well.

Chill and serve

Chill 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.

Pineapple + vanillatop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together911 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,318 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Vanilla + nutmegtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,781 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Green tea + vanillatop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Sugar: Adds sweetness and balances the acidity of the lemons and the bitterness of the tea.
Lemons: Provide acidity and bright citrus aroma that cut through the sweetness and spirit.
Green tea: Adds mild astringency and a tannic backbone that gives the punch body.
Whisky: Provides the alcoholic strength and warming flavour that defines the punch.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (green tea, sugar, lemon, pineapple, vanilla, whisky):

Cinnamonfits better
Gingerfits better
Peppermintfits better
Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against green tea, sugar, lemon, pineapple, vanilla, whisky. 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.