Why it works: Sugar and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,679 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Sloe Gin
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prick the sloes with a needle.
In a small cask, combine the gin, sloes, sugar candy, and ground bitter almonds.
Stir thoroughly twice during the first week.
Steep and bottle
Let the mixture stand until early in the new year.
Strain and bottle the mixture.
Allow it to mature for twelve months.
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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Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Gin + sugartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together344 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Gin + almondtop 29% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Gin
- Acts as the solvent that extracts flavour and colour from the sloes.
- Sloes
- Provide the tart, fruity flavour and deep colour as they steep in the spirit.
- Sugar candy
- Adds sweetness that softens the sharp, astringent edge of the sloes.
- Ground bitter almonds
- Contribute a distinctive nutty, almond aroma to the finished liqueur.
The step that matters
Prick the sloes thoroughly. Pricking breaks the skins so the gin can draw out colour and flavour from the fruit. Whole, unpricked sloes release much less of their flavour during steeping.
“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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