Name: Cough Syrup for Adults
Ingredients: 10 grains Morphine Acetate; 12 ounces Refined Sugar; ½ ounce Acetic Acid; 13 ounces Vinegar of Squill; sufficient quantity Syrup of Red-Poppy to produce 30 ounces

Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Cough Syrup for Adults

Ingredients

10 grains Morphine Acetate
12 ounces Refined Sugar
½ ounce Acetic Acid
13 ounces Vinegar of Squill
sufficient quantity Syrup of Red-Poppy to produce 30 ounces

Directions

Mix Morphine Acetate and Refined Sugar in a bowl.
Add Acetic Acid and Vinegar of Squill, stirring until dissolved.
Incorporate Syrup of Red-Poppy until the total volume reaches 30 ounces.

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.

Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,842 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Vinegar + syruptop 29% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together385 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).