Why it works: Raisin and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,768 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Excellent Raisin Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Ferment the raisins
In a large tub, combine the spring water and raisins.
Stir the mixture thoroughly every day for a month.
After a month, press the raisins in a horse-hair bag until as dry as possible.
Pour the liquid into a cask and wait for it to stop hissing.
Age and rack
Add a bottle of the best brandy and seal the cask tightly for twelve months.
After twelve months, rack off the liquid without the dregs.
Filter the dregs through a flannel bag of three or four folds.
Finish and mature
Combine the clear liquid with the original quantity and add 1 to 2 quarts of brandy based on the vessel size.
Seal the cask and let it age for three years before bottling or drinking directly from the cask.
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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Raisin + brandytop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,768 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fresh smyrna raisins
- Provide sugar and fruit flavour that ferments into the wine's body and aroma.
- Spring water
- Dilutes the raisin sugars and forms the bulk of the liquid that ferments.
- Brandy
- Raises the alcohol content, stopping fermentation and preserving the wine during long ageing.
The step that matters
Waiting for the hissing to stop before adding brandy. Hissing means fermentation is still giving off carbon dioxide. Adding brandy while it is active can halt the process unevenly and leave the wine unstable, so the cask should be quiet first.
“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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