Why it works: Orange and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,212 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Bitters, Quinine
Ingredients
Directions
Make the quinine solution
Dissolve the quinine in a little distilled water with the tartaric acid.
Make the orange syrup
Dissolve the cane sugar in the remaining distilled water.
When cold, add the essence of orange to the sugar syrup.
Combine and serve
Combine the quinine solution with the orange syrup.
Serve two tablespoons of the mixture to half a pint of water.
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 + sugartop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Orange and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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
- Sulphate of quinine
- Provides the bitter flavour that defines the drink.
- Tartaric acid
- Adds sourness that balances the bitterness.
- Essence of orange
- Adds the citrus aroma and flavour.
- Cane sugar
- Adds sweetness that softens the bitterness.
The step that matters
Add the essence of orange only when the syrup is cold. Orange essence contains volatile aroma compounds that evaporate when heated, so adding it to warm syrup would weaken the citrus aroma.
“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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