Name: Cough Syrup— Fine
Ingredients: 1 ounce hoarhound; 1 ounce licorice; 2 ounces gum arabic; 1 pint molasses; 1 teacup vinegar; 1 quart water

Why it works: Molasses and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 26% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,253 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Cough Syrup— Fine

Ingredients

Directions

Boil the hoarhound in 1 quart of water.
Dissolve the licorice and gum arabic in a little water first.
Strain the hoarhound before adding the other ingredients.
Do not add the vinegar until the mixture is nearly done.

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.

Molasses + vinegartop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,253 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Licorice + molassestop 29% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together22 recipes
Licorice + vinegartop 38% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together8 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).