Name: Sleepeb, an American Drink
Ingredients: 1 pint of old rum; 1 oz. of powdered sugar; 2 eggs; ½ lemon (juice only); 6 cloves; 6 coriander seeds; a shred of cinnamon; ½ pint of water

Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Sleepeb, an American Drink

Ingredients

Directions

In a bowl, combine the rum, powdered sugar, egg yolks, and lemon juice.
Boil the spices in the water, then strain the liquid into the bowl.
Whisk all ingredients together until frothy.
Pour the drink into glasses while hot.

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.

Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Lemon + coriandertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,498 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Coriander + cinnamontop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,635 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,950 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Clove + coriandertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,221 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Old rum: Provides the main spirit flavor and warmth of the drink.
Eggs: Add richness and body, and thicken the drink when whisked.
Powdered sugar: Sweetens the drink and dissolves easily into the liquid.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness and the rum.
Cinnamon: Adds warm aroma to the drink.

The step that matters

Whisk all ingredients together until frothy. Whisking blends the egg yolks evenly with the liquids and traps air, so the drink becomes smooth and foamy rather than streaky or separated.

Swap the coriander

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rum, sugar, egg, lemon, clove, cinnamon):

Nutmegfits better
Allspicefits better
Cardamomfits better
Corianderthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rum, sugar, egg, lemon, clove, cinnamon. 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.

Lemon Whey33 recipes

Lemon Wine31 recipes

Lemon Squash10 recipes

Cinnamon Tincture10 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

Sleepeb, an American Drink