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Ratafia, Noyeau

A liqueur made from apricot kernels steeped in brandy, sweetened with sugar and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Apricot and brandy work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 513 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Ratafia, Noyeau

Ingredients

Directions

Infuse

  1. In a large jar, combine apricot kernels and brandy.

  2. Let the mixture infuse for three weeks, shaking or stirring occasionally.

  3. Remove the apricot kernels.

Sweeten and bottle

  1. Dissolve sugar in water.

  2. Mix the sugar solution with the infused brandy, filter, and bottle.

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. Apricot + brandytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together513 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Apricot + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,630 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Brandy + sugartop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Brandy and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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

Apricot kernels
Provide the characteristic almond-like aroma and flavour as they steep in the brandy.
Brandy
Acts as the solvent that extracts flavour from the kernels and preserves the finished liqueur.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and body, balancing the strong alcohol and bitter kernel flavour.

Swap the apricot

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Apricotthe original
  3. Raisinfits about as well
  4. Figfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against brandy, sugar. 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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