Name: Claret-cup
Ingredients: 1 bottle of claret; ½ pint of spring water or seltzer water; 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar; 12 cloves; a little grated nutmeg; the rind of 1 lemon; 1 glass of brandy; a sprig of borage

Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Claret-cup

Ingredients

Directions

Peel the lemon very thinly and place the peel in a bowl or jug with the cloves, nutmeg, and sugar.
Pour the water over the mixture and stir until the sugar dissolves.
Add the claret.
Just before serving, add the brandy and a sprig of borage.
Chill the jug in ice for a summer drink, or add a small ice lump to the cup.

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.

Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,686 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Lemon + boragetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together102 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Nutmeg + boragetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together76 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,318 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Clove + lemontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,150 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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 that carries the flavour and gives the drink its body.
Powdered sugar: Sweetens the drink and dissolves easily into the cold liquid.
Brandy: Adds strength and a warm, spirited aroma added near serving.
Lemon rind: Contributes aromatic oils that give the cup a bright citrus fragrance.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, clove, nutmeg, brandy, borage):

Lemonthe original
Vanillafits about as well
Orangefits less well
Raisinfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, clove, nutmeg, brandy, borage. 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.