Name: Depression Op Spirits, to Core
Ingredients: 4 oz. hartshorn; 1 oz. cinnamon; 1½ oz. bruised cardamoms; 2 oz. bruised caraway; ½ oz. saffron; 1 quart sherry wine; 1 quart brandy

Why it works: Cardamom and saffron match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 342 recipes mention both. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Depression Op Spirits, to Core

Ingredients

Directions

Combine hartshorn, cinnamon, cardamoms, caraway, and saffron in a stone jar.
Pour in sherry wine and brandy.
Seal the jar tightly and let it infuse for 48 hours.
After 48 hours, strain the mixture and store it.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Cardamom + saffrontop 1% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together342 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Cinnamon + cardamomtop 1% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together1,299 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Cinnamon + saffrontop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together406 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Cardamom + carawaytop 4% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together40 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Caraway + saffrontop 5% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together35 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the caraway

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cinnamon, cardamom, saffron, sherry, wine, brandy):

Clovebetter flavor fit
Nutmegbetter flavor fit
Allspicebetter flavor fit
Carawaythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cinnamon, cardamom, saffron, sherry, wine, brandy. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).