Name: Another Cold Caudle
Ingredients: 2 eggs; ½ cup cold water; juice of 1 orange or 1 lemon; a few tablespoons sherry wine or brandy; sweetener to taste; flavoring to taste

Why it works: Orange and sherry work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 823 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Another Cold Caudle

Ingredients

Directions

Beat the eggs in cold water until well mixed.
Add the juice of the orange or lemon.
Stir in the sherry wine or brandy.
Sweeten and flavor to your taste.

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.

Orange + sherrytop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together823 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Egg + sherrytop 29% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,324 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Egg + orangetop 31% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together10,696 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Egg and orange barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,696 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

Eggs: Provide structure and body, giving the drink a thick, creamy texture when beaten into the liquid.
Orange or lemon juice: Adds acidity and bright flavor that balances the sweetness and richness of the eggs.
Sherry wine or brandy: Adds aroma and warmth, and its alcohol gives a sharper flavor to the drink.