Why it works: Brandy and wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,427 recipes. Both carry gamma-nonanolactone, which smells coconut, sweet. The science ↓
Gooseberry Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Top and tail the gooseberries.
Mash the gooseberries in a wooden dish using a rolling pin.
Transfer the mashed gooseberries to a large stone jar.
Pour boiling water over the mashed gooseberries.
Cover the jar.
Let it stand for 12 hours.
Strain and measure the juice.
Mix in ¾ pound of loaf sugar for each quart of juice.
Let the mixture stand for 8-9 hours.
Stir several times to dissolve the sugar.
Ferment and fortify
Pour the mixture into a keg.
Allow it to ferment at the bung-hole, filling it up as it works out.
Cover the keg with a cloth wrapped around the bung.
Add 1 pint of white brandy for every gallon of wine.
Refine and bottle
Bottle the wine in cold, frosty weather.
Beat 2 egg whites with 2 teaspoons of salt until frothy.
Mix the frothy mixture with 1 quart of wine.
Pour the mixture into the cask.
Add 2-3 raisins to the bottom of each bottle to prevent further fermentation.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + winetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,427 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Brandy + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,768 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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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).
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
- Gooseberries
- Provide the fruit, acidity and flavour that form the base of the wine.
- Loaf sugar
- Feeds the yeast during fermentation and sets the sweetness of the finished wine.
- White brandy
- Adds alcohol that stops fermentation and fortifies the wine.
- Egg whites
- Fining agent that helps clarify the wine as it settles.
The step that matters
Allow it to ferment at the bung-hole, filling it up as it works out.. Fermentation pushes foam and liquid out of the keg. Keeping it topped up prevents air contact that invites spoilage and oxidation, and the cloth cover lets gas escape while keeping out contaminants.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, brandy, wine, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Apricotfits about as well
- Applefits about as well
- Raisinthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, brandy, wine, 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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