Why it works: Brandy and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,340 recipes. Both carry acetoin, which smells butter, cream. The science ↓
Champagne Wine Op Gooseberries
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
On a dry day, gather one bushel of the best cultivated gooseberries just before they ripen.
Bruise the gooseberries thoroughly.
Pour 3 gallons of scalding water over the bruised gooseberries in a previously charred open-headed cask.
Cover the cask with a blanket and stir daily 2–3 times for 4 days.
Press the mixture and add 3 pounds of powdered sugar for every gallon of juice; let it dissolve.
Ferment and clarify
After 12–14 days of fermentation, fill daily to allow impurities to overflow.
Lightly place the bung on the cask, gradually making it firmer until it is perfectly air-tight on the third day.
Let it stand undisturbed until December.
On a clear, dry day in December, rack off the wine and add ⅛ cup of the best brandy.
Let it sit until June; if not bright and clear, refine with the beaten whites of 6 eggs.
Bottle
Bottle in fresh bottles with new corks, and dip the necks in bottle-cement after corking.
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.
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Brandy + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,340 recipes
Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).
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Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and brandy 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
- Cultivated gooseberries
- Provide the fruit juice that ferments into the wine.
- Powdered sugar
- Feeds the yeast during fermentation, producing alcohol and carbon dioxide.
- Brandy
- Adds alcohol and strength, helping preserve the wine after racking.
- Egg whites
- Bind suspended particles so they settle out, clearing the wine.
The step that matters
Keeping the bung airtight. Air exposure lets acetic acid bacteria turn the wine sour, while sealing too early can trap pressure. Firming the bung gradually lets carbon dioxide escape while keeping air out.
“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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