Name: Cough Wafers
Ingredients: 80 grains Ipecacuanha Root, in powder; 53 grains Morphine Hydrochloride; 8 ounces Solid Extract of Liquorice; 40 grains Tartarated Antimony; 40 minims Oil of Anise; 40 minims Oil of Cloves; 40 minims Oil of Spearmint; Plain Basis, sufficient quantity to produce 1 pound

Why it works: Anise and clove share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 93 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Cough Wafers

Ingredients

80 grains Ipecacuanha Root, in powder
53 grains Morphine Hydrochloride
8 ounces Solid Extract of Liquorice
40 grains Tartarated Antimony
40 minims Oil of Anise
40 minims Oil of Cloves
40 minims Oil of Spearmint
Plain Basis, sufficient quantity to produce 1 pound

Directions

Mix all ingredients thoroughly.
Form into wafers.
Allow to dry completely before use.

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.

Anise + clovetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together93 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Clove + spearminttop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Anise + spearminttop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).