Name: Brandy Bitters
Ingredients: 8 ounces bruised gentian; 5 ounces orange peel; 3 ounces cardamoms; 1 ounce cassia; ½ ounce cochineal; 1 gallon spirit; 5 pints water

Why it works: Orange and cardamom match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 228 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Brandy Bitters

Ingredients

Directions

Macerate

Combine bruised gentian, orange peel, cardamoms, cassia, cochineal, and spirit in a container.
Let the mixture digest for one week, shaking occasionally.
Decant the clear liquid.

Second extraction

Pour water over the dregs.
Let this mixture digest for another week.
Decant again.

Combine

Mix the two tinctures together.

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.

Orange + cardamomtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together228 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Cardamom + cassiatop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together58 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Orange + spirittop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together171 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Orange + cassiatop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Cassia + spirittop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together24 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Bruised gentian: Provides the intensely bitter flavour that defines the bitters.
Orange peel: Adds citrus aroma and a bright, slightly sweet note.
Cardamoms: Contributes warm, aromatic spice notes.
Cassia: Adds warm, woody cinnamon-like aroma and flavour.
Spirit: Acts as the solvent that extracts flavour and aroma from the botanicals.