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Cornella or Cinnamon

A spiced brandy liqueur made with cinnamon, cloves, coriander, sugar, water, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

Cornella or Cinnamon

Ingredients

Directions

Infuse the spirit

  1. Mix cinnamon, cloves, coriander seeds, and salt in brandy.

  2. Let it infuse for 18 hours.

Clarify the sugar

  1. In a separate container, clarify sugar in water.

Finish and bottle

  1. Beat egg whites and mix with the spirit.

  2. Filter the mixture through blotting paper.

  3. Cork the bottles well after mixing.

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. Cinnamon + coriandertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,635 recipes

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

  3. Clove + coriandertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,221 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Brandy + cinnamontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,199 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Brandy
Forms the base spirit that carries the flavours and sets the strength of the drink.
Cinnamon
Supplies the dominant warm aroma and flavour as it infuses into the spirit.
Cloves
Adds pungent, aromatic spice notes that deepen the infused flavour.
Coriander seeds
Contributes a light citrusy aroma that rounds out the spice blend.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and body, balancing the spice and alcohol.
Egg whites
Their proteins bind suspended particles so they can be removed when the liquid is filtered.

The step that matters

Beat egg whites and mix with the spirit. Egg white is used to clear the liquor: its proteins bind fine suspended particles, which are then removed by filtering. Beat and mix them evenly through the spirit so the clearing is uniform before filtering.

Swap the coriander

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against brandy, cinnamon, clove, sugar, egg. 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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