Why it works: Brandy and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and 2,635 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-heptanol, which smells bitter, floral. The science ↓
Christmas Tourte a LA Chatelaine
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and bake
Make the case for the tourte as for the previous one.
Fill it handsomely with mince meat.
Cover securely with paste or thick paper.
Bake gently for 30 minutes or longer until the currants and raisins are tender.
Fill and serve
Remove the inside of the tourte and heap hot mince meat into it.
Pour a little fresh brandy over the mince meat.
Light a strip of writing paper and touch it to the tourte before serving.
Serve in a blaze or very hot without brandy, with Devonshire cream as an accompaniment.
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.
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Brandy + creamtop 16% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together2,635 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Meat + creamtop 24% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together2,248 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Meat + brandytop 26% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together328 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mince meat
- Provides the main filling, with dried fruit adding sweetness and moisture as it softens in the oven.
- Paste
- Encloses the filling, holding in heat and moisture while the pastry bakes and browns.
- Brandy
- Adds aroma and flavour; when warmed it can briefly flame at the table.
- Devonshire cream
- Adds richness and fat, offsetting the sweet, spiced filling.
The step that matters
Lighting the brandy in a blaze. The mince meat must be hot and the brandy fresh, because alcohol vapour only ignites when warm enough. If the filling has cooled or the brandy is old and weak, the flame fails and the dish loses its aroma.
“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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