Name: Cider Punch
Ingredients: 1 quart iced cider; 1 bottle iced seltzer or soda water; ⅓ cup brandy; 2 oz sugar (or to taste); 1 lemon, thinly sliced

Why it works: Cider and brandy work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 404 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Cider Punch

Ingredients

Directions

Mix all the ingredients together in a glass jug.
Serve in small glasses.

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.

Cider + brandytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together404 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together11,939 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together5,351 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Cider + lemontop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together986 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

Sugar and lemon 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

Iced cider: Provides the main apple flavour and most of the liquid volume.
Brandy: Adds warmth and a spirited body that balances the sweetness.
Sugar: Sweetens the punch and softens the acidity of the cider and lemon.
Seltzer or soda water: Adds lightness and fizz, keeping the punch refreshing.