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Brandy Shrub

A fermented syrup made with sugar, spirit, brandy, almonds, orris powder, cassia, orange essence, lemons, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Brandy Shrub

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine sugar, spirit, brandy, almonds, orris powder, cassia, essence of orange, sliced lemons, and water in a large cask.

  2. Rummage the mixture daily for one week.

  3. After a week, add enough water to make a total of 103 gallons, along with 1 quart of coloring and 24 beaten eggs, then mix well and seal the cask.

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. Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Spirit + brandytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together209 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (sweet).

  3. Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,125 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Spirit + orangetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together171 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs (in the method)
Beaten eggs are added at the end to help clarify the liquor as they set and settle.
Sugar
Provides sweetness and body, balancing the alcohol and the sharp citrus.
Lemons
Add sharp acidity and citrus aroma that brighten the spirit.
British brandy
Supplies the main spirit flavour and the alcoholic base of the drink.

The step that matters

Adding the beaten eggs. Egg whites rise and coagulate as they are mixed through a large volume of liquid, then slowly carry suspended particles downward, which clears the drink. Mixing them in thoroughly before sealing the cask matters so they can bind fine solids evenly.

Swap the cassia

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Gingerfits better
  4. Cassiathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, spirit, brandy, almond, orange, lemon. 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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