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Drink

Modern Cookery

A chilled beverage made with milk, lemon rind, eggs, rum, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Rum and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,058 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Modern Cookery

Ingredients

Directions

Make the punch

  1. In a large bowl, combine the whole milk and the rind of the lemon.

  2. Add the fresh eggs and whisk until frothy.

  3. Gradually mix in the cold milk, rum, and brandy.

Serve

  1. Serve immediately in warm glasses.

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.

  1. Rum + brandytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Milk + rumtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together967 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  3. Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Milk + brandytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,738 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  5. Egg + brandytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).

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

What each ingredient does

Whole milk
Gives the punch its creamy body and softens the strong spirits.
Fresh eggs
Whisking creates foam and adds richness and body to the drink.
Rum
Provides the main spirit flavour and most of the alcoholic strength.
Brandy
Adds a second layer of spirit flavour that rounds out the rum.
Lemon rind
Its oils add bright citrus aroma without adding much sourness.

The step that matters

Gradually mix in the cold milk, rum, and brandy. Adding the cold milk and spirits slowly while stirring lets them blend evenly into the egg-and-milk base, helping keep the punch smooth rather than separated or lumpy.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, egg, rum, brandy):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Pineapplefits better
  3. Apricotfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, rum, brandy. 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.

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