Name: Cool Tankard, or Beer Cup
Ingredients: 1 quart mild ale; ⅓ cup white wine; ⅓ cup brandy; ⅓ cup capillaire (or sugar syrup); juice of 1 lemon; thin peel of 1 lemon; grated nutmeg (to taste); sprig of borage or balm (optional); 1 slice toasted bread

Why it works: Lemon and borage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 102 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Cool Tankard, or Beer Cup

Ingredients

Directions

In a large pitcher, combine the mild ale, white wine, brandy, capillaire, and lemon juice.
Add the thin lemon peel and grated nutmeg.
Garnish with a sprig of borage or balm if desired.
Serve with a slice of toasted bread on the side.

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 + boragetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together102 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Nutmeg + boragetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together76 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,318 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
White wine + brandytop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together620 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
White wine + lemontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,832 recipes

Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

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

What each ingredient does

Mild ale: Forms the base of the drink, providing body and a light malty flavor.
Brandy: Adds alcohol strength and warming aroma to the drink.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the drink and balances the sweetness.
Capillaire: Provides sweetness to balance the acidity and the alcohol.

Swap the borage

The recipe marks borage as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (white wine, brandy, sugar, lemon, nutmeg, bread):

Cinnamonfits better
Marjoramfits about as well
Clovefits about as well
Boragethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against white wine, brandy, sugar, lemon, nutmeg, bread. 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.