Name: Brandy Smash
Ingredients: 2 or 3 slices of lemon; 2 or 3 slices of pineapple; 2 teaspoons of pounded sugar; shaved or broken ice; ⅓ cup of brandy

Why it works: Pineapple and brandy work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 298 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Brandy Smash

Ingredients

Directions

Place the lemon, pineapple, and sugar into a tumbler.
Fill the tumbler with ice.
Pour in the brandy.
Drink it through a straw, or not, as preferred.

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.

Pineapple + brandytop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together298 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Lemon + pineappletop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,964 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Pineapple + sugartop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,841 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together11,939 recipes

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

Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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

Brandy: Provides the spirit base and the main warm, aromatic flavour of the drink.
Lemon: Adds acidity that brightens the drink and balances the sweetness.
Pineapple: Adds fruity sweetness and aroma that complements the brandy.
Sugar: Adds sweetness that balances the acidity of the lemon.
Ice: Chills the drink and slowly dilutes it as it melts.