Name: Cough Syrup
Ingredients: 1 handful of hoarhound leaves; 4 mullen leaves; water (enough to make 1 quart of tea); 4 tablespoons molasses; 4 tablespoons sugar

Why it works: Molasses and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Cough Syrup

Ingredients

Directions

Combine hoarhound leaves and mullen leaves in a pot with enough water to make 1 quart of tea.
Cook until the leaves are infused, then strain the mixture through a cloth.
Add molasses and sugar to the strained tea.
Boil the mixture down until it reduces to 1 pint.

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.

Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Tea + molassestop 31% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together139 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Tea + sugartop 31% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,204 recipes

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