Why it works: Raspberry and brandy work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 235 recipes. Both carry (z)-hex-3-en-1-ol, which smells freshly cut grass green and herbaceous notes. The science ↓
Raspberry Vinegar
Ingredients
Directions
Make the infusion
Mash the raspberries in a china bowl.
Pour the vinegar over the raspberries and let it stand for three days, stirring frequently.
Strain the mixture through a flannel bag without pressing it.
Make the syrup and finish
Combine the raspberry juice with the loaf sugar in a pot and boil for ten minutes, skimming off any foam.
Allow the mixture to cool, then add the brandy.
Bottle and seal the raspberry vinegar.
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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Raspberry + brandytop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together235 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-hex-3-en-1-ol (freshly cut grass green and herbaceous notes).
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Vinegar + raspberrytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together303 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Vinegar + brandytop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together344 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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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
- Raspberries
- Provide the main fruit flavour and aroma that the vinegar draws out during steeping.
- Vinegar
- Extracts raspberry flavour from the fruit and adds the sharp acidity that balances the sweetness.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the syrup and helps preserve the finished vinegar.
- Raspberry juice
- Supplies extra raspberry flavour and liquid to the syrup base.
- Brandy
- Adds aroma and helps preserve the finished vinegar.
The step that matters
Strain without pressing the fruit. Pressing the bag forces fine pulp and cloudy solids through the cloth, which makes the vinegar murky and can add bitter, unclear flavours. Letting it drip keeps the liquid clear.
Swap the raspberry
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sugar, brandy):
- Apricotfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Currantfits better
- Raspberrythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, 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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