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Brandy Shrub

A sweetened alcoholic syrup made with brandy, lemon juice, peels, white wine, sugar, and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Brandy Shrub

Ingredients

Directions

Infuse

  1. Combine brandy, lemon juice, and lemon peels in a large bottle.

  2. Seal the bottle and let it sit for 3 days.

Finish and serve

  1. Add white wine, loaf sugar, and nutmeg.

  2. Strain the mixture through a flannel bag before serving.

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. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Brandy + white winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together620 recipes

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

  3. Lemon + white winetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,832 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  4. Brandy + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,311 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. White wine + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,659 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

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

What each ingredient does

Brandy
Forms the spirit base and carries the flavors from the other ingredients.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the drink and balances the sugar.
Lemon peels
Release aromatic oils into the alcohol during the rest, adding citrus aroma.
White wine
Dilutes the spirit and adds lighter fruit notes and acidity.
Loaf sugar
Adds sweetness that softens the sharpness of the lemon and alcohol.
Nutmeg
Contributes warm, spiced aroma to the finished drink.

The step that matters

Seal the bottle and let it sit for 3 days. Alcohol slowly draws flavor and aromatic oils out of the lemon peel and juice. Cutting the rest short leaves the drink thin and harsh, so the full resting time matters.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (brandy, lemon, white wine, sugar):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Nutmegthe original
  4. Marjoramfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against brandy, lemon, white wine, sugar. 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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