Why it works: Raisin and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,768 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Excellent Raisin Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mash
In a large tub, combine the spring water and raisins.
Stir the mixture thoroughly every day for a month.
After a month, press the raisins in a horse-hair bag until as dry as possible.
Ferment and age
Pour the liquid into a cask and let it sit until it stops hissing.
Add the bottle of brandy and seal the cask tightly for twelve months.
After twelve months, rack off the wine without the dregs.
Filter the dregs through a flannel bag of three or four folds.
Combine the clear wine with the filtered liquid and add 1 to 2 quarts of brandy, depending on the vessel size.
Seal the cask and let it age for three years before bottling or drinking.
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.
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Raisin + brandytop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,768 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fresh smyrna raisins
- Provide the sugar and fruit flavor that ferments into the wine.
- Brandy
- Raises the alcohol content and helps preserve the wine during long aging.
- Spring water
- Forms the liquid base that dissolves raisin sugars and carries flavor.
The step that matters
Sealing the cask until it stops hissing. Hissing signals active fermentation releasing carbon dioxide. Sealing too early can trap pressure, while the wine needs the initial ferment finished before brandy is added to stabilize it.
“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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