Name: Whisky Punch
Ingredients: 1 lemon; 2 lumps of sugar; boiling water; whisky

Why it works: Lemon and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Whisky Punch

Ingredients

1 lemon
2 lumps of sugar
boiling water
whisky

Directions

Rub the rind of the lemon with the sugar and place them in a tumbler.
Cut the lemon into thin slices and add them to the tumbler, using more if preferred.
Fill the tumbler about two-thirds with boiling water and top it off with whisky.

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.

Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + whiskytop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,008 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Lemon + whiskytop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together369 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

Lemon: Its rind and slices add aroma and a bright, sharp acidity to the drink.
Sugar: Sweetens the punch and balances the acidity of the lemon.
Whisky: Provides the main spirit flavour and strength of the drink.