Name: Coffee, Tea, Beverages
Ingredients: 2 teaspoons mace; 2 teaspoons cloves; 1 pint water; ⅓ cup French brandy

Why it works: Mace and clove are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,400 recipes. Both carry methyleugenol, which smells clove, spice. The science ↓

Coffee, Tea, Beverages

Ingredients

2 teaspoons mace
2 teaspoons cloves
1 pint water
⅓ cup French brandy

Directions

Boil water with mace and cloves for 15 minutes.
Strain the syrup.
Add French brandy to the syrup.
For mild diarrhea, take 1 tablespoon of the mixture.
For severe cases, take 1 tablespoon after each discharge until symptoms improve.

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.

Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together8,400 recipes

Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
Clove + brandytop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,362 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Mace + brandytop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,547 recipes