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Allspice, Essence of

A tincture made by infusing oil of pimento in spirits of wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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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 ↓

Allspice, Essence of

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Gradually pour 2 teaspoons of oil of pimento into 3 ounces of spirits of wine.

  2. Let the mixture stand for a few minutes.

  3. Transfer it into a bottle and cork it tightly.

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. Spirit + winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together701 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Oil of pimento
Provides the main aromatic flavour, which gives the essence its spiced character.
Spirits of wine
Dissolves the aromatic oil so it blends into an even, clear liquid.

The step that matters

Pouring the oil gradually into the spirits. Oils do not mix readily with alcohol. Adding the oil slowly, with the spirits there to receive it, helps it disperse evenly rather than clumping or floating on the surface.

“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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