Name: Ratafia a LA Violette
Ingredients: 2 drachms Florentine orrice root; 1 ounce archel; 4 pints rectified spirits of wine; 4 pounds sugar

Why it works: Spirit and wine work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 701 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, fruity. The science ↓

Ratafia a LA Violette

Ingredients

2 drachms Florentine orrice root
1 ounce archel
4 pints rectified spirits of wine
4 pounds sugar

Directions

Combine the Florentine orris root, archel, and rectified spirits of wine in a large container.
Let the mixture steep for a period of time.
Strain the mixture to remove solids.
Add the sugar and stir until fully dissolved.

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.

Spirit + winetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together701 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
Spirit + sugartop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together602 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Wine + sugartop 31% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together9,581 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

Florentine orris root: Provides a violet-like floral aroma that flavours the spirit.
Archel: Adds colour and a distinctive aroma to the infused spirit.
Rectified spirits of wine: Acts as the solvent that extracts flavour and colour from the botanicals.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and body, balancing the strong alcohol and botanical flavours.

“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.