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Peaches in Brandy

Peaches preserved in brandy and sugar syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Peach and brandy work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 339 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Peaches in Brandy

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the peaches

  1. Wipe the peaches with a cloth to remove the down.

  2. Prick each peach with a small fork until it reaches the stone.

  3. Place the peaches in nearly boiling water over moderate heat until softened.

  4. Transfer the peaches to cold water and let them stand for 15 minutes.

  5. Change the water and let them stand for another 15 minutes.

  6. Drain the peaches on clean towels and let them dry.

  7. Arrange the dried peaches in a glass jar.

Make the syrup

  1. Boil clarified sugar until it reaches a little pearl stage.

  2. Use ⅓ cup of syrup for every 2 cups of fruit.

  3. Add double the quantity of brandy to the syrup and mix well.

  4. Strain the mixture through a flannel bag two to three times.

Pour and seal

  1. Pour the syrup over the peaches in the jars and cover with bladders, tying them down securely.

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. Peach + brandytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together339 recipes

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

  2. Peach + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,308 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 recipes

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

Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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

Peaches
Provide the fruit that is softened, then preserved in the syrup and brandy.
Clarified sugar
Forms the syrup that sweetens the fruit and helps preserve it.
Brandy
Adds alcohol that helps preserve the fruit and contributes aroma and flavour.

The step that matters

Softening the peaches in hot water. Heating the peaches just until softened, then cooling them in water, keeps the flesh intact. Overheating breaks down the fruit's structure and makes it mushy.

Swap the peach

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Apricotfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Peachthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, brandy. 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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