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Raisin Wine with Cider

A fermented wine made from Malaga raisins steeped in cider and finished with brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Cider and brandy work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 404 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Raisin Wine with Cider

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Place the raisins in a cask.

  2. Pour the cider over the raisins and stir well for 2-3 days.

Age and finish

  1. Stop the cask and let it stand for 6 months.

  2. Rack the wine into another cask that it will fill.

  3. Add the gallon of brandy.

  4. If desired, add another 112 lbs of raisins for a stronger wine.

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. Cider + brandytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together404 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  2. Raisin + brandytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Raisin + cidertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together588 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Malaga raisins
Provide sugar and fruit flavour that ferment into the wine's body and sweetness.
Cider
Supplies the liquid and sugars that the raisins release and that yeast ferments into alcohol.
Brandy
Raises the alcohol content, adding strength and preserving the wine.

The step that matters

Stop the cask and let it stand for 6 months. Sealing the cask lets fermentation finish and the wine clear slowly. Opening or disturbing it early can introduce air and spoilage, and racking too soon leaves sediment behind.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cider, brandy):

  1. Applefits better
  2. Currantfits better
  3. Apricotfits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cider, brandy. 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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