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Drink

Brandy Bitters

A tincture of gentian, orange peel, cardamom, cassia, cochineal, brandy, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Orange and cardamom match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 228 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Brandy Bitters

Ingredients

Directions

Macerate

  1. Combine all ingredients in a stone jar or bottle.

  2. Stir gently several times during the first day.

  3. Let the mixture settle for a week.

Decant and steep again

  1. After a week, pour off all the clear liquid.

  2. Add 5 pints of water to the dregs and let it sit for another week.

  3. Pour off the clear liquid again and mix it with the first batch.

Bottle

  1. Bottle and cork well for use.

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.

  1. Orange + cardamomtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together228 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Cardamom + cassiatop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together58 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Orange + brandytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,706 recipes

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

  4. Orange + cassiatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Cardamom + brandytop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together59 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Brandy
Acts as the solvent that extracts bitter and aromatic compounds from the botanicals.
Bruised gentian
Supplies the intense bitter flavour that defines the bitters.
Seville orange peel
Adds citrus aroma and a bright, slightly bitter note.
Cardamoms
Contributes warm, aromatic spice notes.
Cassia
Adds sweet, woody cinnamon-like spice.
Cochineal
Provides a red colour to the finished liquid.

The step that matters

Adding water to the dregs. Water extracts additional compounds from the spent botanicals that alcohol alone leaves behind, but too much water with the high-alcohol first batch can cloud the mixture or dilute the blend, so the second batch should be kept separate until it is combined and bottled.

Swap the cassia

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Clovefits better
  3. Gingerfits better
  4. Cassiathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against orange, cardamom, 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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