Name: Plums, Preserved in Brandy
Ingredients: Plums; Boiling syrup; Brandy

Why it works: Plum and brandy work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 168 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Plums, Preserved in Brandy

Ingredients

Plums
Boiling syrup
Brandy

Directions

Pour the boiling syrup over the plums and cover them. Leave until the next day.
Put the plums and syrup on a brisk fire.
When the plums sink, remove them with a skimmer.
Drain the plums on a sieve.
Reduce the syrup.
Place the plums in wide-mouthed bottles.
Pour warm syrup over the plums, but do not boil.
Cork the bottles the next day.
Leave the bottles for 3 to 4 days.
Fill the bottles with brandy and seal them tightly.

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.

Plum + brandytop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together168 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Syrup + brandytop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together561 recipes
Plum + syruptop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together143 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).