Skip to main content
Drink

Ratafia, Common

A bitter almond liqueur made by steeping almonds, ambergris, sugar, and nutmeg in spirit.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Almond and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,115 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Ratafia, Common

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Blanch the bitter almonds and chop them very small.

  2. In a mortar, combine the chopped almonds, ambergris, sugar, and grated nutmeg, then pound thoroughly.

Infuse

  1. Transfer the mixture to a stone jar and pour the spirit over it.

  2. Cover the jar closely and let it sit in a warm place for two weeks.

  3. Filter the mixture through a strainer lined with blotting paper.

Bottle

  1. Pour the ratafia into small bottles, cork them securely, and store for use.

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. Almond + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,115 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  3. Sugar + nutmegtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together23,364 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  4. Almond + spirittop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together143 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Nutmeg + spirittop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together107 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Sugar and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 23,364 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Bitter almonds
Provide the main almond flavour and aromatic oils that infuse into the spirit.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the bitterness and strength of the spirit.
Spirit
Acts as the solvent that extracts flavour from the almonds and spices over time.
Grated nutmeg
Adds warm, aromatic spice notes to the infusion.
Ambergris
Contributes a musky, aromatic note to the finished liqueur.

The step that matters

Pounding the almond mixture thoroughly. Breaking the chopped almonds down finely increases the surface area exposed to the spirit, so flavour and aromatic oils extract more fully during the infusion.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, sugar, spirit):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Gingerfits about as well
  4. Clovefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against almond, sugar, spirit. 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.

You might also like

Almond MilkAlmond Milk18 recipesVegetable SoupVegetable Soup350 recipesRaspberry VinegarRaspberry Vinegar214 recipesBrown Coffee with EggBrown Coffee with Egg175 recipes