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Roman Punch

A punch made with sugar, black tea, brandy, rum, orange and lemon juice, frozen, served with champagne.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Roman Punch

Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Roman Punch

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Brew strong black tea and let it cool.

  2. In a large bowl, mix the sugar, tea, brandy, rum, orange juice, and lemon juice until the sugar dissolves.

  3. Pour the mixture into a container and freeze.

Serve

  1. Once frozen, serve in glasses and top with champagne.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Rum + champagnetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together137 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  3. Brandy + rumtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,058 recipes

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

  4. Brandy + champagnetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together169 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  5. Rum + orangetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together801 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Loaf sugar
Dissolves into the liquid to add sweetness that balances the citrus and alcohol.
Strong black tea
Adds tannin and a dry, slightly bitter note that gives the punch depth.
Brandy
Adds alcohol and aroma; alcohol also keeps the frozen mixture from freezing solid.
Rum
Adds body and aroma, with alcohol that softens the ice texture.
Champagne
Adds sparkle and a light, fresh finish when poured over the frozen base.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the punch and balances the sugar.

The step that matters

Dissolving the sugar fully before freezing. Undissolved sugar stays gritty and uneven as the mixture freezes. Stirring until clear gives a smooth, evenly sweetened base.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, black tea, brandy, rum, champagne, orange):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Pineapplefits better
  3. Apricotfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, black tea, brandy, rum, champagne, orange. 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.

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