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Grapefruit Cocktail

A chilled cocktail made with grapefruit juice, sugar syrup, brandy, maraschino, shaved ice, and a piece of grapefruit pulp.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Grapefruit Cocktail

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Fill a glass nearly with shaved ice.

  2. Add 4 tablespoons of fruit juice, 1 tablespoon of sugar syrup, 2 tablespoons of brandy, and 1 tablespoon of maraschino, then stir well for a moment.

  3. Strain into a cocktail glass.

  4. Add a small piece of solid grapefruit pulp.

  5. Serve immediately.

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 + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 recipes

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

  3. Syrup + brandytop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together561 recipes
  4. Brandy + grapefruittop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19 recipes

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

  5. Syrup + grapefruittop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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

Brandy
Adds the main spirit flavour and warmth to the drink.
Fruit juice
Provides the main liquid base and fresh citrus flavour.
Sugar syrup
Adds sweetness to balance the tartness of the juice.
Maraschino
Adds a sweet, almond-like cherry aroma and flavour.

Swap the grapefruit

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, syrup, brandy):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Apricotfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Grapefruitthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, syrup, brandy. 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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