Name: Absinthe
Ingredients: 250 g greater absinthe (flowering tops and leaves); 100 g lesser absinthe; 50 g hyssop; 50 g balm mint; 12 g angelica roots; 400 g green anise; 2 liters alcohol (85°); 2 liters water

Why it works: Angelica and anise share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓

Absinthe

10 liters at 40°

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Cut the greater absinthe, lesser absinthe, hyssop, balm mint, angelica roots, and green anise finely.
Macerate the herbs with 2 liters of alcohol for 24 hours.

Distill and dilute

Distill the mixture with 2 liters of water.
Draw off 2 liters and 30 c.c. of the liquor.
Add 3 liters and 500 c.c. of alcohol and 4 liters and 200 c.c. of water to obtain 10 liters at 40°.
Color the absinthe as desired.

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.

Angelica + anisetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Mint + angelicatop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Mint + anisetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Greater absinthe: Provides the bitter, characteristic flavour that defines the absinthe.
Lesser absinthe: Adds additional bitterness and herbal depth to the infusion.
Green anise: Contributes the sweet, anise aroma that carries through the distillate.
Alcohol: Extracts the aromatic and bitter compounds from the herbs during maceration.