Name: Cough Syrup, an Excellent One
Ingredients: 1 pint vinegar; 1 teacup honey; 1 teacup molasses; small handful horehound leaves, bruised; 1 ounce wine of ipecac; 1 ounce tincture of lobelia

Why it works: Vinegar and honey are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,586 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Cough Syrup, an Excellent One

Ingredients

Directions

Mix vinegar, honey, molasses, and bruised horehound leaves in a pot.
Simmer over low heat for 15 to 20 minutes.
Strain the mixture and squeeze out the liquid.
Add wine of ipecac and tincture of lobelia to the strained syrup.
Take 1 teaspoon or 2 as needed.

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.

Vinegar + honeytop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,586 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Vinegar + winetop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,493 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Honey + winetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together606 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutanoic acid ethyl ester (sweet, green).
Honey + molassestop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together224 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Vinegar + molassestop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,253 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).