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Cambridge Milk Punch

A chilled milk punch made with fresh milk, lemon rind, sugar, eggs, rum, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Cambridge Milk Punch

Why it works: Rum and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,058 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Cambridge Milk Punch

Ingredients

Directions

Make the milk base

  1. Combine 2 quarts of new milk and the thinly pared rind of 1 large lemon in a pot.

  2. Add ½ pound of sugar to the mixture.

  3. Bring the mixture slowly to a boil.

  4. Remove the lemon rind.

  5. Take the pot off the heat.

Add the eggs and spirits

  1. Whisk together 2 eggs and ½ pint of cold milk in a bowl.

  2. Strain the mixture through a sieve.

  3. Stir the egg mixture into the milk, ensuring it does not boil.

  4. Gradually add 1 pint of rum and ½ pint of brandy.

  5. Froth the punch.

  6. Serve immediately in warm glasses.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Rum + brandytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Milk + rumtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together967 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  3. Sugar + rumtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,908 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Milk + brandytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,738 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Thicken the milk gently into a creamy, silky body when heated without boiling.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the alcohol and the lemon flavour.
Rum
Adds spirit strength and aroma to the punch.
Brandy
Adds further spirit depth and warm fruity aroma.
New milk
Forms the creamy base of the punch.

The step that matters

Stir the egg mixture into the milk without letting it boil. Egg proteins set and curdle when overheated, so the milk must be off the heat and the egg mixture added gently to keep the punch smooth rather than grainy.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, egg, rum, brandy):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Pineapplefits better
  3. Apricotfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, egg, rum, brandy. 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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