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Bitters

A bitter infusion made from thoroughwort tea, French brandy, and orange peel.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Tea and orange work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 333 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Bitters

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Make a strong tea of thoroughwort and strain it.

  2. Let the tea cool.

  3. Add ½ pint of French brandy to the cooled tea.

  4. Stir in the peel of 2-3 fresh oranges cut into small bits.

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. Tea + orangetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together333 recipes

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

  2. Brandy + orangetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,706 recipes

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

  3. Tea + brandytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together121 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

Thoroughwort
Provides the bitter flavour that defines the finished bitters.
French brandy
Acts as a solvent and preservative, carrying aromatic compounds and keeping the mixture stable.
Orange peel
Adds citrus aroma and a touch of sweetness from its fragrant oils.

Swap the orange

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

  1. Peachfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Apricotfits about as well
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tea, 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.

More bitters recipes

Brandy 11Orange 4Ale 3Hop 3 See all 5 →

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