Name: Cherry Brandy
Ingredients: 8 pounds black maroons; 8 pounds small black cherries; 6 gallons brandy; 2 pounds crushed sugar; 1 quart sack (sherry)

Why it works: Brandy and sherry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,209 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Cherry Brandy

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and steep

Pick and bruise the black maroons and small black cherries.
Place them in a cask with the brandy, crushed sugar, and sack. Stir well.
Let the mixture stand for two months.

Draw off and bottle

After two months, draw off the liquid and bottle it.

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.

Brandy + sherrytop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,209 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Brandy + sugartop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together11,939 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + sherrytop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,141 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

Black maroons: Bruised fruit releases juice and flavor into the brandy during steeping.
Small black cherries: Bruised fruit adds cherry flavor and color to the liquor as it steeps.
Brandy: Acts as the solvent that extracts flavor from the fruit and keeps the mixture stable.
Crushed sugar: Adds sweetness that balances the alcohol and the tartness of the fruit.
Sack (sherry): Adds wine-like depth and aroma to the blended liquor.

“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.