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Drink

Oxford Punch

A citrus punch made with lemon and Seville orange rinds, peels, juices, calf's feet jelly, water, sweet syrup, wine, brandy, rum, and orange shrub.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Oxford Punch

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 ↓

Oxford Punch

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Rub the rinds of 3 lemons with sugar in lumps to extract essence.

  2. Combine the lemon essence, thin peels of 2 Seville oranges and 2 lemons, juices of 4 Seville oranges and 10 lemons, and 6 glasses of calf's feet jelly in a large jug.

  3. Stir well and add 2 quarts of boiling water.

  4. Cover the jug and let it sit near the fire for 15 minutes.

  5. Strain the mixture into a punch bowl or jug.

Add the sweetening and spirits

  1. Sweeten with 1 bottle of capillaire.

  2. Add ½ pint of white wine.

  3. Add 1 pint of French brandy.

  4. Add 1 pint of Jamaica rum.

  5. Add 1 bottle of orange shrub.

  6. Stir the punch as you pour in the spirits.

  7. If not sweet enough, add more sugar or a spoonful of capillaire.

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

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

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

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

  3. White wine + rumtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together113 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. White wine + brandytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together620 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

Lemons
Their juice and oil-rich peel provide the sharp acidity and aroma that define the punch.
Seville oranges
Their juice and bitter peel add acidity and a fragrant, aromatic bitterness.
Calf's feet jelly
Its gelatin gives the punch body and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel.
Capillaire
A sweet syrup that balances the sharp citrus acidity.
French brandy
Adds warming alcoholic strength and depth of flavour to the punch.
Jamaica rum
Adds rich, full-bodied flavour and further alcoholic strength.

The step that matters

Sweetening after the citrus has steeped. Citrus acidity and the spirits change how sweet the punch tastes, so sweetness should be checked at the end. Adding syrup before tasting risks an overly sharp or cloying result, and it is easier to add more than to correct excess sugar.

Swap the lemon

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, orange, syrup, white wine, brandy, rum. 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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