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Drink

Be Gent Punch

A chilled punch made with brandy, rum, pineapple syrup, and citrus, served frozen like sorbet.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and orange match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Be Gent Punch

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Steep the rind of a Seville orange in the syrup before using.

Make the punch

  1. Combine all ingredients in a freezing pot surrounded by ice.

  2. Mix well and half freeze the punch like sorbet or granita.

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. Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Pineapple + rumtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  3. Rum + champagnetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together137 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  4. Brandy + rumtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,058 recipes

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

  5. Brandy + champagnetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together169 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

What each ingredient does

Syrup
Adds sweetness and body to balance the acidity of the lemon and spirits.
Pineapple syrup
Adds sweetness and fruity flavour that complements the brandy and rum.
Brandy
Provides the main spirit flavour and warmth.
Old rum
Adds depth and aged sweetness to the spirit base.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness and spirits.
Champagne
Adds effervescence and a light, dry character to the punch.

The step that matters

Half freeze the punch. Freezing a mixture that is high in alcohol and sugar produces a slush rather than a solid, because both lower the freezing point. Stop partway so the punch stays spoonable and the ice crystals stay fine, and mix well so the sugar and alcohol are evenly distributed.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (syrup, pineapple, brandy, rum, green tea, champagne, orange):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against syrup, pineapple, brandy, rum, green tea, champagne, orange. 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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