Why it works: Raisin and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,768 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Raisin Wife
Ingredients
Directions
Make the wine
Boil ½ pound of hops in 20 gallons of water for 1 hour.
Let the mixture cool, then pour it over the raisins.
Let it sit for 3 weeks, stirring daily.
Press off the liquid and transfer it to a cask.
Do not seal the cask until fermentation has ceased.
Age and bottle
After about 1 year, draw off the clear liquid.
Return it to the barrel and let it settle before bottling.
Run any thick liquid through a flannel bag.
Before sealing the bottles, add 1 quart of brandy for every hogshead of wine.
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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Raisin + brandytop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,768 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Hops + brandytop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-hex-3-en-1-ol (freshly cut grass green and herbaceous notes).
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Raisin + hopstop 84% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together0 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Smyrna raisins
- Provide sugar and fruit flavor that ferment into the wine.
- Hops
- Add bitterness and aroma that balance the sweetness of the wine.
- Brandy
- Adds alcohol and warmth, stabilizing the finished wine before bottling.
The step that matters
Do not seal the cask until fermentation has ceased. Sealing too early traps carbon dioxide produced by fermenting yeast, which can build pressure and burst the cask. Wait until bubbling stops so the wine is stable.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (hops, brandy):
- Applefits better
- Grapefits better
- Peachfits better
- Raisinthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against hops, brandy. 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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