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Angelica Cordial

A cordial made by dissolving calamus and oil of angelica in proof spirit, then adding sugar syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Angelica Cordial

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Dissolve calamus and oil of angelica in proof spirit.

  2. Add white sugar syrup and mix well.

  3. Bottle the mixture.

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. Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Calamus + angelicatop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  3. Spirit + angelicatop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together31 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  4. Spirit + syruptop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together141 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Spirit + calamustop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Proof spirit
Acts as the alcoholic base that carries the flavour and keeps the cordial stable.
Oil of angelica
Provides the main aromatic flavour characteristic of the cordial.
Calamus
Adds a bitter, aromatic note that contributes to the cordial's overall flavour.
White sugar syrup
Adds sweetness and balances the strong, bitter aromatics and the alcohol.

Swap the calamus

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (spirit, angelica, sugar, syrup):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Gingerfits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. Calamusthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against spirit, angelica, sugar, syrup. 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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