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Drink

Cider Cup

A chilled cider-based cocktail with sherry, brandy, citrus, cucumber, and optional curaçao, served over ice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and orange 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 ↓

Cider Cup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a large glass jug or claret-cup, mix together the cider, sherry, brandy, lemon rind, orange slices, and cucumber slices if using.

  2. Fill the cup with finely pounded or shaved ice.

  3. Sweeten to taste and serve before the ice completely melts.

  4. Add curaçao and grated nutmeg if desired.

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. Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

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

  2. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Sherry + brandytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,209 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  4. Cider + sherrytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together143 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl pentanoate (yeast, fruit).

  5. Cider + brandytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together404 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

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

What each ingredient does

Cider
Forms the liquid base and provides the main fruity volume of the drink.
Sherry
Adds dryness and nutty depth that balances the sweetness and fruit.
Brandy
Contributes warmth and a spirited backbone to the punch.
Lemon rind
Adds bright aromatic oils and a touch of acidity that lifts the drink.
Orange
Adds fresh citrus juice and aroma that complement the cider.

The step that matters

Serve before the ice completely melts. As ice melts it dilutes the drink, so the cup loses strength and flavour if it sits too long. Sweetening after dilution is also best done once the flavours are balanced, so taste before serving.

Swap the cucumber

The recipe marks cucumber as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cider, sherry, brandy, lemon, orange, sugar, nutmeg):

  1. Arrowrootfits better
  2. Sweet potatofits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Cucumberthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cider, sherry, brandy, lemon, orange, sugar, nutmeg. 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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