Name: Noyeau Cordial
Ingredients: 1 gallon proof spirit; 3 pounds loaf sugar; 1 tablespoon extract of almonds; ½ pint apricot or peach juice

Why it works: Almond and apricot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 852 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Noyeau Cordial

Ingredients

1 gallon proof spirit
3 pounds loaf sugar
1 tablespoon extract of almonds
½ pint apricot or peach juice

Directions

Add the proof spirit to a large container.
Stir in the loaf sugar and extract of almonds until well mixed.
Cover the mixture and let it stand for 48 hours.
Strain the mixture through thick flannel into bottles.
For improved flavor, add the apricot or peach juice before bottling.

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.

Almond + apricottop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together852 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Spirit + apricottop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together38 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,679 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Sugar + apricottop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,630 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Spirit + almondtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together143 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

Proof spirit: Acts as the alcoholic base that dissolves and carries the almond and fruit flavours.
Loaf sugar: Adds sweetness and body, softening the strong bite of the spirit.
Extract of almonds: Provides the main almond aroma and flavour.
Apricot or peach juice: Adds fruity flavour and a little acidity to round out the cordial.

“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.