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Drink

Crimean Cup

A sparkling cocktail of orange rind, sugar, Maraschino, Cognac, Curacao, soda water, Champagne, and optional ice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Orange and champagne work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 260 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Crimean Cup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Combine orange rind and crushed sugar in a bowl.

  2. Macerate with a ladle for 1-2 minutes.

  3. Add Maraschino, Cognac, and Curacao, then mix well.

Finish and serve

  1. Pour in soda water and Champagne while stirring with a punch ladle.

  2. Serve immediately over ice if desired.

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. Orange + champagnetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together260 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  2. Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,212 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + champagnetop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together424 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Orange and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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

Orange rind
Adds aromatic oils and a bright citrus flavour to the punch.
Crushed sugar
Sweetens the punch and draws oil from the rind when macerated.
Champagne
Provides sparkle and dilutes the base into a lighter, effervescent drink.
Cognac
Adds warmth and depth of flavour to the spirit base.
Maraschino
Contributes cherry-almond sweetness and aromatic complexity.

The step that matters

Macerate the rind and sugar. Pressing the sugar against the peel releases aromatic oils from the rind into the sugar. Working too briefly leaves the citrus flavour weak, while overworking can make the peel bitter.

Swap the orange

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

  1. Strawberryfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Pineapplefits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, champagne. 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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