Name: Fine English Hollands, and Other Cordial Gins
Ingredients: 2 lumps of sugar; 2 teaspoons oil of juniper; 2 teaspoons oil of turpentine; 2 teaspoons oil of almonds; 20 drops oil of vitriol; ½ cup strong spirits of wine; ½ pound lump sugar; 2 quarts clear water (boiled or distilled)

Why it works: Spirit and wine work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 701 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, fruity. The science ↓

Fine English Hollands, and Other Cordial Gins

Ingredients

Directions

Make the oil mixture

Rub together the sugar, oils, and oil of vitriol in a marble mortar.
Gradually add the strong spirits of wine until the mixture is smooth and oily appearances are gone.

Combine and finish

Dissolve the lump sugar in the clear water.
Combine the two mixtures and stir well.

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.

Spirit + winetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together701 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,679 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Almond + spirittop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together143 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Sugar + spirittop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together602 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Almond + winetop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,260 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Oil of juniper: Provides the main aromatic flavour that defines the gin character.
Oil of almonds: Adds a rounded aroma that contributes to the overall flavour.
Strong spirits of wine: Alcohol that helps the essential oils blend smoothly before adding water.
Lump sugar: Adds sweetness and softens the sharpness of the flavouring oils.

The step that matters

Adding the spirits of wine gradually. Essential oils do not mix with water on their own. Adding the spirit slowly while rubbing lets the oils blend into a smooth mixture, so they stay evenly dispersed when combined with the sweetened water instead of separating.

Swap the almond

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

Almondthe original
Chestnutfits about as well
Beansfits less well
Walnutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, spirit, wine. 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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Fine English Hollands, and Other Cordial Gins