Name: Loving-Cups
Ingredients: 2 bottles sherry; 2 bottles Madeira; 1 bottle port; 1 bottle claret; juice of 6 lemons; 1½ lb loaf sugar; 1 quart water; 1 tablespoon liquid spice; 1 grated nutmeg

Why it works: Lemon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Loving-Cups

Ingredients

Directions

Mix the sherry, Madeira, port, claret, lemon juice, loaf sugar, and water in a large bowl.
Stir in the liquid spice and grated nutmeg.
Chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

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.

Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,318 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Sherry + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,246 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Sherry + lemontop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,273 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + nutmegtop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together23,364 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

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

Sherry: Adds dry, nutty wine depth and body to the punch base.
Madeira: Contributes rich, caramel-like sweetness and a fortified wine backbone.
Port: Adds fruity sweetness and body that rounds out the wine blend.
Claret: Provides tannin and red-wine structure to the punch.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that balances the sugar and the wine.
Loaf sugar: Sweetens the punch and softens the acidity and wine tannins.