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Herb Spirit

A herbal spirit made by steeping dried sweet herbs in brandy for two weeks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Herb Spirit

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Dry the sweet herbs.

  2. Pound and sift the dried herbs.

  3. Steep the herbs in brandy for two weeks.

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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Thyme + summer savorytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together214 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Marjoram + summer savorytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together125 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Marjoram + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together688 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  5. Thyme + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

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

What each ingredient does

Sweet herbs
Provide the main aroma and flavor that the brandy extracts over the steeping period.
Brandy
Acts as a solvent that draws aromatic flavor compounds out of the herbs.

The step that matters

Dry the sweet herbs. Any moisture left on the herbs will dilute the brandy and can encourage spoilage during the two-week steep. Fully dry herbs give a stronger, more stable infusion.

Swap the basil

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (thyme, marjoram, summer savory, brandy):

  1. Sagefits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Basilthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against thyme, marjoram, summer savory, 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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