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Roman Punch

A chilled punch made with champagne, rum, lemon juice, rind, and frothy egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Roman Punch

Why it works: Champagne and rum match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 137 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Roman Punch

Ingredients

Directions

Make the punch

  1. In a large bowl, mix the champagne, rum, lemon juice, and grated lemon rind.

  2. Beat the egg whites until frothy and fold them into the mixture.

Freeze and serve

  1. Freeze the mixture until solid.

  2. Serve in cups.

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. Champagne + rumtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together137 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  2. Champagne + lemontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together404 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  3. Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  4. Rum + lemontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  5. Rum + eggtop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,589 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Lemon and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 44,316 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Champagne
Adds sparkle and a light, dry wine flavour to the punch.
Rum
Adds alcohol and depth of flavour, and keeps the frozen mixture softer.
Lemons
Provide the sharp acidity that balances the sweetness and flavour of the punch.
Eggs
Whites beaten to a froth add airy lightness and a foamy texture to the punch.

The step that matters

Folding in the beaten egg whites. Egg whites hold air only when beaten to a froth, so they must be folded in gently. Stirring vigorously would knock out the air and leave the punch dense rather than light and foamy.

Swap the lemon

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against champagne, rum, 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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