Name: Prince-of-wales Punch
Ingredients: 1 bottle sparkling wine; ½ cup maraschino liqueur; ½ pint thin bright strawberry syrup; juice of 6 oranges; rind of 1 orange, rubbed on sugar and scraped off; 1 pint German seltzer water

Why it works: Syrup and sugar 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 ↓

Prince-of-wales Punch

Ingredients

1 bottle sparkling wine
½ cup maraschino liqueur
½ pint thin bright strawberry syrup
juice of 6 oranges
rind of 1 orange, rubbed on sugar and scraped off
1 pint German seltzer water

Directions

Place all ingredients in a freezing pot surrounded by rough ice.
Mix well and chill until ready to serve.

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.

Syrup + sugartop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,842 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Strawberry + orangetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together726 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Sparkling wine + strawberrytop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Sparkling wine + orangetop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Strawberry + syruptop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together332 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Sparkling wine: Provides the main body and bubbles that give the punch its lively character.
Maraschino liqueur: Adds sweetness and a distinctive cherry-like aroma to the punch.
Strawberry syrup: Adds sweetness and fruity flavour while giving the punch its bright colour.
Orange juice: Adds acidity and citrus brightness that balances the sweetness of the syrup and liqueur.
Orange rind: Adds fragrant citrus oils to the punch, contributing aroma and bitterness.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sparkling wine, strawberry, syrup, sugar):

Vanillafits better
Pineapplefits better
Peachfits better
Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sparkling wine, strawberry, syrup, sugar. 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.