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Drink

Norfolk Punch

A fortified punch made with brandy, citrus peels, sugar water, orange and lemon juice, milk, and aged for weeks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Norfolk Punch

Why it works: Lemon and orange match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Norfolk Punch

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the infusion

  1. Remove the white pith from the lemon and orange peels.

  2. Infuse the peels in the brandy for 12 hours.

Blend the punch

  1. Mix the cold boiled water with the sugar until well combined.

  2. Pour the sugar water over the brandy and peels.

  3. Add the juices of the oranges and lemons, and mix well.

  4. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a clean barrel.

  5. Stir in the new milk, then seal the barrel tightly.

Age and bottle

  1. Let it stand in a warm cellar for 6 weeks.

  2. Bottle the liquor, ensuring bottles are clean and dry, and use high-quality corks.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

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

  3. Brandy + orangetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,706 recipes

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

  4. Orange + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,696 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Brandy + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,738 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

French brandy
Forms the alcoholic base that carries the flavour of the peels and juices.
Double-refined sugar
Sweetens the punch and balances the acidity of the citrus juices.
Lemon juice
Adds sharp acidity that brightens and balances the sweetness.
Orange juice
Adds fruity sweetness and acidity, rounding out the citrus flavour.
New milk
Softens the sharpness of the citrus and clarifies the liquor as it stands.

The step that matters

Sealing and standing in a warm cellar. Sealing the barrel tightly keeps air out so the liquor matures without spoiling, and the long, warm rest lets the flavours blend and mellow over the six weeks.

Swap the lemon

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against brandy, orange, sugar, milk. 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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