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Drink

Loving Cup

A chilled cocktail of champagne, Madeira, brandy, sugar, lemon, water, with nutmeg and balm or borage.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and borage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 102 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Loving Cup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Rub the peel from one lemon with some sugar.

  2. Place the rubbed peel in a jug with the remaining sugar and the other lemon cut into slices.

  3. Pour the water over the mixture.

Finish and serve

  1. Add the wine and brandy.

  2. Grate a little nutmeg into the jug.

  3. Chill before serving.

  4. Float the balm or borage on top.

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. Lemon + boragetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together102 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  2. Borage + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together76 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Champagne + brandytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together169 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  4. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Champagne + lemontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together404 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Champagne
Adds sparkle and a light, dry wine character to the punch.
Madeira
Contributes body and a rich, nutty sweetness to the drink.
Brandy
Adds strength and a warm, spirited backbone to the punch.
Loaf sugar
Sweetens the punch and draws oils from the lemon peel when rubbed in.
Lemons
Provide acidity that balances the sweetness and wine, and aromatic oils from the peel.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (champagne, brandy, sugar, lemon, borage):

  1. Cinnamonfits about as well
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Tarragonfits less well
  4. Marjoramfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against champagne, brandy, sugar, lemon, borage. 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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