Why it works: Milk and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,685 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Chocolate Punch
Ingredients
Directions
Fill a large bar glass with fine ice.
Add sugar, Port wine, Curacao, egg, and milk.
Shake thoroughly.
Strain into a punch glass.
Grate a little nutmeg on top and serve.
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.
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Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,685 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Port wine + milktop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together135 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl butyrate (apple, fruity).
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Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together24,744 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Port wine + nutmegtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together462 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 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
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, port wine, egg, milk):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Clovefits less well
- Gingerfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, port wine, egg, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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