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Drink

Hampshire Syllabub

A chilled dessert drink made with beer, brandy, sugar, nutmeg, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Beer and milk work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 298 recipes. Both carry methyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Hampshire Syllabub

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a large bowl, combine the beer and brandy.

  2. Add sugar, nutmeg, and milk to taste.

  3. Stir well until combined.

  4. Serve chilled.

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.

  1. Beer + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together298 recipes

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

  2. Beer + brandytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together39 recipes

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

  3. Nutmeg + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,685 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Brandy + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,311 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Brandy + milktop 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

Beer
Provides the base liquid and a malty, slightly bitter flavour that the milk curdles into.
Brandy
Adds alcohol and warming aroma, giving the drink its strength and character.
Milk
Added to taste, it softens the drink and mellows the sharp, bitter notes of the beer and brandy.

The step that matters

Adding the milk. Milk added to acidic, alcoholic liquid can curdle, causing separation. Pour it in slowly while stirring so the drink stays smooth rather than clumping.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Gingerfits about as well
  3. Clovefits about as well
  4. Nutmegthe original

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