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Roman Punch

A punch made with water, sugar, lemon juice, eggs, brandy, and Jamaica rum.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Roman Punch

Why it works: Brandy and rum are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,058 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Roman Punch

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Make a rich lemonade by combining water, sugar, lemon juice, and eggs.

  2. Add brandy and Jamaica rum in equal parts.

  3. Freeze the mixture as you would for other ices.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

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

  2. Sugar + rumtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,908 recipes

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

  3. Egg + brandytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).

  4. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

Sugar and lemon 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

Sugar
Adds sweetness and keeps the frozen mixture softer by lowering its freezing point.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that balances the sweetness and brightens the flavor.
Eggs
Add richness and body to the lemonade, giving a smoother texture.
Brandy
Adds alcohol that lowers the freezing point, so the punch stays softer when frozen.
Jamaica rum
Adds alcohol that keeps the frozen texture softer and contributes rich aroma.

The step that matters

Freezing the mixture. Alcohol lowers the temperature at which the mixture freezes, so it stays slushy rather than solid. Adding the spirits too early or freezing it too hard can leave it icy or rigid, and the texture depends on the balance of sugar and alcohol.

Swap the lemon

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, brandy, rum. 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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