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Drink

Champagne Cup

A chilled beverage made with champagne, soda water, brandy, powdered sugar, fruit puree, cucumber rind, and ice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Champagne and brandy work together. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 169 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Champagne Cup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine the champagne, soda water, brandy, and powdered sugar in a large pitcher.

  2. Add the crushed fruit and cucumber rind just before serving.

  3. Stir gently and serve over a large piece of ice.

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. Champagne + brandytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together169 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Champagne + cucumbertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together55 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  3. Brandy + sugartop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 recipes

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

  4. Champagne + sugartop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together424 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Brandy + cucumbertop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together97 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

Brandy and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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

Champagne
Provides the main sparkling body and wine flavour of the drink.
Brandy
Adds spirit strength and warm aroma that balances the sweetness.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the drink and dissolves easily into the cold liquid.
Fresh ripe fruit
Contributes natural fruit flavour, aroma and a light colour to the cup.

The step that matters

Adding the fruit and cucumber just before serving. Fruit and cucumber release flavour and aroma over time, and soft fruit can turn bitter or dull if steeped too long. Adding them last keeps the cup bright and fresh, and the carbonation stays lively when the soda and champagne are not stirred vigorously.

Swap the cucumber

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (champagne, brandy, sugar):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Beetrootfits about as well
  4. Cucumberthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against champagne, brandy, 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.

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