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Roman Punch

A chilled punch made with lemon and orange juice, sherry, rum, sugar, water, and beaten egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Roman 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 ↓

Roman Punch

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrups and juice

  1. Boil 1 quart of water and 1 cup of sugar together for 30 minutes.

  2. Add the fruit juices and let the mixture cool.

  3. In a small saucepan, combine ½ cup of sugar and ½ cup of water, boil for 15 minutes.

Make the meringue

  1. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.

  2. Slowly pour the hot syrup into the egg whites while beating continuously for 4 minutes.

Freeze and finish

  1. Place the punch mixture in a freezer and freeze for 20 minutes, stirring constantly.

  2. After 20 minutes, remove the cover, take out the beater, and mix in the sherry, rum, and egg whites.

  3. Cover and let it sit for 2 hours before serving.

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. Sherry + rumtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together146 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  3. Orange + rumtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together801 recipes

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

  4. Orange + sherrytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together823 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  5. Rum + sugartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,908 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
Provides sharp acidity that balances the sweetness of the syrup.
Orange
Adds fruity juice that contributes sweetness, acidity and aroma.
Sugar
Sweetens the punch and, in the syrup, helps give the meringue body and stability.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they add foam and a light, airy texture.
Sherry
Adds wine flavor and aroma to the punch.
Jamaica rum
Adds strong aroma and flavor, and its alcohol keeps the mixture from freezing solid.

The step that matters

Slowly pour the hot syrup into the egg whites while beating. Pouring slowly while beating lets the hot syrup cook and stabilize the whites gradually. Pouring too fast or stopping the beater can deflate the foam or leave it lumpy.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (orange, sherry, rum, sugar, egg):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against orange, sherry, rum, sugar, egg. 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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