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Raspberry Whiskey

A whiskey infused with raspberries, spices, and sugar, aged for months.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Raspberry Whiskey

Ingredients

Directions

Make the raspberry base

  1. Pick the raspberries and boil them for 20 minutes with the sugar, skimming frequently.

  2. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve.

  3. Mix the strained liquid with the whiskey and lemon juice.

Infuse and age

  1. Pour into a clean stone jar over the cloves, cinnamon, nutmegs, and sugar-candy.

  2. Stir well, seal the jar, and let it stand for 6 months in a dry, warm cellar.

  3. After 6 months, strain the liquor and filter it through fine flannel until clear.

  4. Bottle the whiskey, seal the corks, and let it age for another 12 months.

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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

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

  5. Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Ripe red raspberries
Provide the main fruit flavor and color, with their juice extracted by boiling.
Loaf sugar
Adds sweetness and body to the liquor.
Genuine old whiskey
Serves as the alcoholic base that carries the flavors and preserves the liquor.
Strained lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the fruit flavor.
Cloves
Contribute warm, aromatic spice notes during the infusion.

The step that matters

Straining and filtering until clear. Fine sieving and flannel filtering remove pulp and sediment, so the liquor stays clear and does not turn cloudy or develop off flavors during long storage.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg. 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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