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Brandy Peaches

Peaches preserved in brandy-infused syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Brandy Peaches

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 ↓

Brandy Peaches

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the peaches

  1. Peel the peaches and cut around them to the stone without dividing them.

Make the syrup

  1. Make a syrup with 1 pound of sugar and 1/2 cup of water.

  2. Skim the syrup as it boils.

Cook and pack

  1. Add the peaches to the syrup and boil until tender.

  2. Carefully remove the peaches.

  3. Take the syrup off the heat.

  4. Add 1/2 pint of brandy to the syrup.

  5. Pour the syrup over the peaches.

  6. Seal the peaches in glass jars.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

Cling-stone peaches
Provide the fruit that softens during boiling and carries the flavour.
Sugar
Sweetens the syrup and helps preserve the fruit.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavour to the syrup that is poured over the peaches.

The step that matters

Boil the peaches until tender without breaking them. Boiling in syrup softens the fruit, but over-boiling breaks down the flesh and makes the peaches fall apart. Removing them carefully keeps the halves intact for jarring.

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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