Name: Ratafia of Currants
Ingredients: 10 pounds currants; 10 pints brandy; 4 pounds sugar; 2 teaspoons cinnamon; 2 teaspoons cloves

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 of Currants

Ingredients

Directions

Make the ratafia

Combine currants, brandy, sugar, cinnamon, and cloves in a large jar.
Stir the mixture daily for 15 days.

Strain and bottle

Strain through a cloth and filter the liquid.
Bottle the finished ratafia.

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.

Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,057 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Brandy + cinnamontop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,199 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Brandy + clovetop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,362 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

Sugar and cinnamon 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

Currants: Provide the fruit flavour and colour that define the ratafia.
Brandy: Extracts flavour from the fruit and preserves the liquid through its alcohol content.
Sugar: Sweetens the liqueur and balances the sharpness of the currants and brandy.
Cinnamon: Adds warm aromatic spice to the infused liquid.
Cloves: Adds strong aromatic spice to the infused liquid.