Why it works: Currant and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,057 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Receipt for Making Currant Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Pick fully ripe currants on a clear day between July 15 and 20.
Wash the currants in a clean tin colander to remove dust.
Place the currants in a clean flannel bag and press out the juice.
Make the mixture
Measure the juice; for every gallon of juice, add two gallons of cold well water.
To this mixture, add three pounds of good clear brown sugar for every gallon.
For every eighteen gallons of the mixture, add one gallon of the best French brandy.
Mix everything well and transfer it to a clean cask, filling it nearly full.
Ferment and age
Cover the bung hole with a piece of leather and place a small weight on it.
Ensure the cask is not too full to prevent overflow during fermentation.
Once fermentation ceases, seal the cask tightly.
The wine will be ready for use or bottling by the following May.
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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Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,057 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Currant + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,256 recipes
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
- Currants
- Provide the juice and fruit flavor that the wine is built on.
- Brown sugar
- Supplies sugar that yeast ferments into alcohol.
- French brandy
- Adds alcohol that strengthens the wine and helps preserve it.
The step that matters
Leaving room in the cask. Fermentation produces gas and foam that can push liquid out of an overfull cask. Leaving headspace and a loosely covered bung lets gas escape while limiting air contact. Sealing the cask only after fermentation stops prevents air from spoiling the wine.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, brandy):
- Vanillafits better
- Apricotfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, 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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