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Ratafia De Broul Des Nuix

A walnut liqueur made by infusing walnuts, spices, and sugar in proof spirit.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Ratafia De Broul Des Nuix

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pound the walnuts in a mortar.

  2. Add the walnuts and spices to the proof spirit.

  3. Stir in the sugar until dissolved.

Infuse

  1. Infuse the mixture for two months, stirring occasionally.

Strain and bottle

  1. Press out the liquid through a cloth.

  2. Filter and bottle the infused liquid.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Walnut + cinnamontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,147 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  4. Walnut + clovetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Mace + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Young walnuts
Supply the main flavour and colour as their crushed pieces steep in the spirit.
Proof spirit
Acts as the solvent that draws flavour out of the walnuts and spices.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the strong, bitter notes of the walnuts and alcohol.
Mace
Adds warm aroma to the infusion.
Cinnamon
Adds warm, sweet aroma to the infusion.
Cloves
Adds strong, pungent aroma to the infusion.

The step that matters

Stirring the sugar until dissolved. Undissolved sugar stays grainy and sinks, so the sweetness will be uneven. Fully dissolving it in the spirit first gives a smooth, evenly sweetened liquid.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (walnut, cinnamon, clove, spirit, sugar):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against walnut, cinnamon, clove, 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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