Name: Heidelberg Punch, or Hebe's Cup
Ingredients: 1 large cucumber, peeled and sliced; thin rind of 1 lemon; 3 tablespoons sugar; 3 tablespoons brandy; 6 tablespoons sherry; 1 pint bottle of Vichy (sparkling water); 1 pint bottle of claret (red wine)

Why it works: Sherry and red wine share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 32 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Heidelberg Punch, or Hebe's Cup

Ingredients

1 large cucumber, peeled and sliced
thin rind of 1 lemon
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons brandy
6 tablespoons sherry
1 pint bottle of Vichy (sparkling water)
1 pint bottle of claret (red wine)

Directions

Prepare

Peel and slice the cucumber.
Add the thin rind of the lemon and sugar, and mix well.

Mix and chill

Stir in the brandy, sherry, Vichy, and claret.
Mix thoroughly and set on ice for 1 hour 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.

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.

Sherry + red winetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together32 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Brandy + sherrytop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,209 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Cucumber + lemontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,067 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Brandy + red winetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together103 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Cucumber + sherrytop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together143 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

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

What each ingredient does

Claret: Forms the wine base, giving body, colour and deep fruity flavour.
Sherry: Adds fortified depth and nutty, dry notes to the punch.
Brandy: Adds alcohol warmth and aromatic depth to the blend.
Sugar: Sweetens the punch and draws aromatic oils from the lemon rind.
Vichy: Sparkling water that adds lightness and gentle effervescence.
Cucumber: Adds fresh, mild flavour and a cool, watery freshness.

The step that matters

Mix thoroughly and set on ice for 1 hour before serving.. Chilling keeps the sparkling water lively and lets the flavours blend. Vigorous stirring after adding Vichy releases carbonation, so mix gently until cold.

Swap the cucumber

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, sugar, brandy, sherry, red wine):

Shallotfits better
Capsicumfits better
Arrowrootfits better
Cucumberthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, sugar, brandy, sherry, red wine. 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.

Lemon Wine31 recipes

Wine Whey111 recipes

Raisin Wine64 recipes

Egg Wine58 recipes

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Heidelberg Punch, or Hebe's Cup