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Drink

Anisette De Bordeaux

Anisette de Bordeaux is a liqueur made from star anise, coriander, fennel, sugar, and water steeped in rectified spirit.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Star anise and fennel share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88 recipes. Both carry cis-anethole, which smells anise. The science ↓

Anisette De Bordeaux

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the spirit

  1. Crush the star anise, coriander, and fennel.

  2. Combine the crushed spices with the rectified spirit in a large container.

  3. Add the royal sugar and clear water. Mix well and let it sit for several days.

Finish and store

  1. After resting, filter the mixture to separate the solids.

  2. Bottle the liquid and store it in a cool place.

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. Star anise + fenneltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together88 recipes

    Shared aroma: cis-anethole (anise).

  2. Coriander + fenneltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together426 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Star anise + coriandertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together178 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Star anise + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together409 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  5. Coriander + spirittop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together53 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

Star anise
Provides the main licorice-like aroma that defines the liqueur.
Coriander
Adds a warm, citrusy aroma that rounds out the anise flavor.
Fennel
Contributes a sweet, aromatic note that supports the anise flavor.
Rectified spirit
Extracts the aromatic oils from the spices and preserves the finished liquid.
Royal sugar
Adds sweetness and body to the finished liqueur.

The step that matters

Let the mixture rest for several days. Flavor compounds from the spices release gradually into the alcohol over time. Resting too briefly leaves the liqueur weak and underdeveloped in aroma.

Swap the coriander

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (star anise, fennel, spirit, sugar):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Clovefits better
  3. Nutmegfits about as well
  4. Corianderthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against star anise, fennel, spirit, 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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