Name: A Gin Sling
Ingredients: 2 slices of lemon; 3 or 4 lumps of loaf sugar; shavings of ice; ⅓ cup of gin

Why it works: Lemon and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

A Gin Sling

Ingredients

2 slices of lemon
3 or 4 lumps of loaf sugar
shavings of ice
⅓ cup of gin

Directions

Place the lemon slices in a tumbler with the sugar.
Fill the tumbler with broken or shaved ice.
Add the gin and stir gently.
As the ice melts, drink through a straw.

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.

Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + gintop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together344 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Lemon + gintop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together306 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Gin: Provides the spirit base and the main alcoholic flavour of the drink.
Lemon: Adds acidity and bright citrus aroma that balances the sugar.
Loaf sugar: Sweetens the drink and helps draw flavour from the lemon slices.