Name: Cherries in Brandy
Ingredients: fine cherries; brandy; 1 stick of cinnamon; some cloves; ½ pound sugar per quart of brandy

Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Cherries in Brandy

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cherries

Cut off half the stems from the cherries and soak them in cold water.
Drain the cherries and place them in jars or wide-mouthed bottles.

Steep in brandy

Fill the jars with brandy and add a stick of cinnamon and some cloves to each.
Seal the jars tightly and let the cherries steep for one month.

Add sugar and age

Measure the brandy; for each quart, add ½ pound of sugar.
Pour the sugar over the cherries.
Seal the jars again; they will be ready to use in two months.

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.

Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Brandy + cinnamontop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,199 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Brandy + clovetop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,362 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Brandy + sugartop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together11,939 recipes

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

Cinnamon and sugar 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

Cherries: Provide the fruit that softens and flavours the brandy as it steeps.
Brandy: Acts as the preserving liquid and extracts flavour from the fruit and spices.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps draw flavour out of the cherries into the brandy.