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Drink

Punch

A citrusy punch made with lemon, sugar, brandy, rum, port wine, and hot water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Brandy and rum are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,058 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Punch

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Rub some lumps of sugar over the skins of the lemons.

  2. Put the lemons and the remaining sugar into a bowl.

  3. Add the lemon juice and mix well with a spoon.

Make the punch

  1. Pour in the hot water, brandy, rum, and port wine while stirring continuously.

  2. If desired, substitute green tea for hot water or use porter instead of port wine.

  3. Adjust the strength of the punch by adding more water if necessary.

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.

  1. Brandy + rumtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,058 recipes

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

  2. Rum + port winetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together22 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  3. Brandy + port winetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together127 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  4. Sugar + rumtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,908 recipes

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

  5. Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

Lemons
Provide juice and aromatic oils from the skin, giving the punch its bright acidity and fragrance.
Lump sugar
Sweetens the punch and balances the sharpness of the lemon juice.
Brandy
Adds alcoholic strength and warming flavour to the punch.
Rum
Adds alcoholic strength and a rounded, sweet depth of flavour.
Port wine
Adds body, fruity sweetness and deep colour to the punch.

The step that matters

Adjust the strength of the punch by adding more water if necessary. Spirits and wine are strong and sweet, so the balance of alcohol, sugar and acidity can feel harsh or cloying. Adding water dilutes the alcohol and softens the flavour, so tasting and adjusting before serving keeps the punch balanced.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, brandy, rum, port wine):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Pineapplefits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, brandy, rum, port 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.

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