Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Ladies' Punch
Ingredients
Directions
In a large bowl, combine the claret, sliced orange, strong English breakfast tea, orange juice, lemon juice, sugar, and chilled water.
Stir well until the sugar is dissolved.
Add a large lump of ice to chill the punch.
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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Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,634 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Tea + lemontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together610 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Orange + teatop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together333 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Claret
- Provides the main wine body, colour and fruity acidity that define the punch.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the punch and balances the acidity of the citrus and wine.
- Lemons
- Supply sharp acidity that brightens the wine and cuts the sweetness.
- Strong english breakfast tea
- Adds tannin for dryness and astringency that gives the punch structure.
The step that matters
Stir until the sugar is fully dissolved. Undissolved sugar sinks and leaves uneven sweetness, so the punch tastes harsh at the top and cloying at the bottom. Stirring disperses the sugar evenly through the liquid before the ice dilutes it.
“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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