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Dessert

Master Rudstone’s Posset

A sweet alcoholic dessert made with brandy, ale, sugar, eggs, and milk or cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Brandy and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,738 recipes. Both carry gamma-nonanolactone, which smells coconut, sweet. The science ↓

Master Rudstone’s Posset

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Combine brandy, ale, and sugar in a pot.

  2. Boil the mixture well.

Add the eggs

  1. Beat egg yolks and egg whites in a separate bowl until well combined.

  2. Add the beaten eggs to the boiling mixture and stir well.

Finish and serve

  1. Boil milk or cream until it reduces to 2 quarts, then let it cool until it thickens.

  2. Combine the thickened milk or cream with the egg mixture and stir well.

  3. Cover with a plate and serve.

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. Brandy + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,738 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  2. Brandy + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).

  3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

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

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

Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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

Egg whites and yolks
Set the posset into a thick, custard-like texture as they cook in the hot liquid.
Milk or cream
Adds richness and body, giving the posset its creamy, smooth texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the drink and helps balance the sharpness of the brandy and ale.
Brandy
Provides the main spirit flavour and acidity that helps the milk thicken.

The step that matters

Adding the beaten eggs to the boiling mixture. If the eggs are added too quickly or stirred too little, they can scramble into lumps. Stirring well while adding them keeps the proteins dispersed so the mixture sets smooth.

“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.

More posset recipes

Ale 23Treacle 21Sack 19Wine 9Molasses 5Lemon 4 See all 14 →

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