Why it works: Brandy and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,939 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Mint Cordial
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mint
Pick the mint early in the morning while the dew is on it, being careful not to bruise it.
Pour some water over the mint and drain it.
Infuse the brandy
Put two handfuls of mint into a pitcher with a quart of French brandy, cover, and let stand until the next day.
Take the mint carefully out, and add as much more (fresh mint) to the pitcher, which must be taken out next day.
Repeat the process a third time.
Make and bottle the cordial
Add three quarts of water to the brandy, and one pound of loaf sugar powdered; mix well together.
When the mixture is perfectly clear, bottle it.
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. See the original page.
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.
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Brandy + sugartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Brandy and sugar 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
- Mint (in the method)
- Supplies the main aroma and flavour, which the brandy draws out over repeated steeping.
- French brandy
- Acts as the solvent that extracts the mint's aromatic oils and preserves the cordial.
- Loaf sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the strength of the brandy.
The step that matters
Clearing the mixture before bottling. Bottling before the mixture is perfectly clear leaves sugar and fine plant particles suspended, which can cloud the cordial and cause sediment to settle in the bottle.
“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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