Why it works: Gin and lemon work together. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 306 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓
Gin Cocktail
Ingredients
Directions
Make the drink
In a glass, combine a dash of bitters and dry gin over cracked ice.
Stir the mixture well.
Strain and serve
Strain it into a serving glass.
Twist a piece of lemon peel over the drink 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.
-
Gin + lemontop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together306 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Dry gin
- Forms the spirit base and supplies the drink's main botanical flavor.
- Bitters
- Adds concentrated aromatic flavor in a small amount to balance the gin.
- Cracked ice
- Chills the drink and dilutes it slightly as it melts during stirring.
The step that matters
Stir the mixture well. Stirring over ice chills the drink and dilutes it gradually, which softens the alcohol's harshness. Stirring too little leaves the drink warm, strong, and unbalanced.
“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.
You might also like
The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.
Lemon Whey33 recipes
Lemon Wine31 recipes
Lemon Squash10 recipes
Lemon Essence8 recipes