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Ratafia of Quinces

A sweet quince liqueur made by macerating quinces, brandy, sugar, and cinnamon, then aging for two months.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Quince and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 199 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Ratafia of Quinces

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the juice

  1. Scrape the quinces to the core and let them sit for 24 hours.

  2. Squeeze the juice through a cloth.

Blend and sweeten

  1. Mix the juice with an equal quantity of brandy.

  2. Add ¼ pound of sugar and some cinnamon for each quart of mixture.

Age and bottle

  1. After two months, strain and filter before bottling.

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. Quince + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together199 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Quince + brandytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together91 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  4. Brandy + cinnamontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,199 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  5. Brandy + sugartop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 recipes

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

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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 quinces
Provide the main juice and the fruity, fragrant flavour of the drink.
Brandy
Raises the alcohol level, helping preserve the juice during the long rest.
Sugar
Sweetens the drink and balances the tartness of the quince juice.
Cinnamon
Adds a warm spiced aroma to the finished drink.

The step that matters

Mixing the juice with an equal quantity of brandy. Brandy raises the alcohol level of the mixture, which slows spoilage and fermentation while it ages. Using too little brandy leaves the juice less protected during the two-month rest.

Swap the quince

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Quincethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against brandy, sugar, cinnamon. 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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