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Brandy Peaches

Peaches stewed in a brandy‑infused syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Brandy Peaches

Why it works: Peach and brandy work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 339 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Brandy Peaches

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the peaches

  1. Rub off the down from each peach and prick it to the stone with a silver fork.

Make the syrup

  1. Make a syrup with 1 pound of sugar and 1 cup of water.

  2. Add the beaten egg white to the syrup and skim off the scum when it boils.

Cook and preserve

  1. Add the peaches to the boiling syrup and cook slowly until just tender.

  2. Carefully remove the peaches and set them aside.

  3. Remove the syrup from the heat and stir in 1 cup of brandy.

  4. Pour the syrup over the peaches and can or jar them securely.

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.

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.

  1. Peach + brandytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together339 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Egg + brandytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).

  3. Peach + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,308 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Cling-stone peaches
Provide the fruit that softens in the syrup and forms the main body of the preserve.
Sugar
Sweetens the syrup and helps preserve the peaches.
Egg white
Binds impurities in the boiling syrup so they rise as scum that can be skimmed off, clarifying it.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavour to the syrup and helps preserve the fruit.

The step that matters

Cook the peaches slowly until just tender. Simmering gently softens the fruit while keeping its shape; boiling hard would break the peaches apart and make the syrup cloudy.

Swap the peach

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, brandy):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Apricotfits better
  4. Peachthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, 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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