Why it works: Sugar and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Currant Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Pick currants on a dry day and make the wine the same day.
Remove currants from stems, bruise and press them, then strain the juice.
Add 2 gallons of water and 12 pounds of sugar to every gallon of currant juice. Mix until sugar dissolves.
Ferment and age
Pour the mixture into a keg and let it ferment for 12 to 14 days, covering the bung-hole with coarse muslin.
After fermentation, beat the egg whites and stir them into the cask.
Lightly place the bung in the cask at first, then secure it more firmly on the second day, and cover well on the third day.
Let it stand for 5 to 6 months, then rack it off.
If not clear, refine with isinglass, milk, or more egg whites.
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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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Currant + eggtop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,734 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Currant + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,256 recipes
Currant and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,256 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
- Currants
- Provide the juice, flavour and acidity that make up the wine.
- Loaf sugar
- Feeds the yeast during fermentation and provides sweetness and alcohol.
- Soft water
- Dilutes the currant juice to a workable strength for fermentation.
- Egg whites
- Help clarify the wine by carrying suspended particles out of the liquid.
The step that matters
Securing the bung over the first three days. Fermentation releases carbon dioxide and can push the bung out or let air in. Loose early sealing risks contamination, while a firm later seal lets gas escape safely as activity slows.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Lemonfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg. 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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