Why it works: Coriander and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,635 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
French Cherry Brandy
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Stone a quantity of ripe cherries and mix with a few raspberries. Bruise them well together.
Place the mixture in a vessel and let it sit for 4 to 5 days, stirring and pressing it against the sides 2 to 3 times daily.
Press out the juice and measure it into a stone bottle. For every 3 quarts of juice, add 2 quarts of brandy.
Flavour and bottle
Add 3 pinches of bruised cherry kernels and ¼ pound of fine loaf sugar for every 5 quarts of cherry brandy.
Infuse the mixture with a pinch of coriander and a little cinnamon. Shake well every day for a week or more.
Strain the mixture through a cotton or flannel bag into well-corked bottles.
Store the bottles in a cool cellar for use.
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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Coriander + cinnamontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,635 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Cherry + cinnamontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together551 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Cherry + coriandertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together333 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Brandy + cinnamontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,199 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ripe cherries
- Provide the main fruit juice and flavour base of the brandy.
- Brandy
- Acts as the spirit base that extracts and preserves the fruit flavours.
- Fine loaf sugar
- Adds sweetness and rounds out the sharpness of the fruit and spirit.
- Bruised cherry kernels
- Contribute a subtle almond-like aroma to the infusion.
The step that matters
Pressing and standing the fruit. Stirring and pressing the fruit during the standing period helps break cell walls so juice and flavour release evenly. Too little contact leaves the juice weak and the flavour thin.
Swap the coriander
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (brandy, sugar, cherry, cinnamon):
- Nutmegfits better
- Clovefits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Corianderthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against brandy, sugar, cherry, cinnamon. 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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