Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Cherry Whiskey
Ingredients
Directions
Steep the cherries
Place the cherries in a jar and pour the whiskey or brandy over them.
Let it stand for one month.
Remove the cherries, bruise them in a mortar, and return them to the jar.
Let it stand for another month.
Sweeten and bottle
Strain off the liquor.
Make a syrup with the loaf sugar and water, then add it to the liquor.
Pour the boiling syrup into the cold liquor.
Let it settle and cool completely.
Bottle and cork well.
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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Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,842 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Brandy + sugartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Brandy + syruptop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together561 recipes
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
- Ripe cherries
- Provide the main fruit flavour and colour, which soak into the spirit as they steep.
- Whiskey or brandy
- Acts as the solvent that extracts cherry flavour and colour, and preserves the finished liquor.
- Loaf sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the alcohol and the tart cherry flavour.
The step that matters
Pouring the boiling syrup into the cold liquor. Adding boiling syrup to cold spirit can cause a sudden temperature shock and cloudiness, and hot liquid mixed with alcohol can vaporise quickly. Letting the mixture settle and cool completely helps it clear before bottling.
“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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