Name: Currant Drink
Ingredients: 1 teaspoon currant jelly; 1 glass cold filtered water; Chipped ice; 1 slice orange; ½ slice pineapple

Why it works: Orange and pineapple are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,664 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Currant Drink

Ingredients

Directions

Dissolve the currant jelly in the cold filtered water.
Add chipped ice, a slice of orange, and half a slice of pineapple.

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.

Orange + pineappletop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,664 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Currant + pineappletop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together142 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Currant + orangetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,034 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

Currant jelly: Provides the sweetness and the fruity flavour that gives the drink its character.
Orange: Adds a bright citrus aroma and a touch of acidity to the drink.
Pineapple: Adds tropical sweetness and a light acidic note to the drink.