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Drink

Sherry, British

A fermented drink made from water, sugar, honey, egg whites, sweetbrier shoots, Seville orange peel and juice, gum arabic, grape juice, candy, bitter almonds brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Honey and grape work together. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 707 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Sherry, British

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the liquor

  1. Mix 11 gallons of river water with 35 pounds of strong moist sugar, the beaten whites of 12 eggs, and 6 pounds of honey.

  2. Boil slowly for nearly 2 hours, skimming until the liquor is clear.

Infuse and ferment

  1. Pour boiling mixture over a peck of sweetbrier shoots, peels and juice of 10 Seville oranges, and 10 ounces of gum arabic.

  2. Stir well for 30 minutes.

  3. Work in fresh yeast and let it sit for 4-5 days.

  4. Strain into a cask with 2 quarts of pure Lisbon grape juice, 10 ounces of broken sugar candy, and 1 ounce of beaten bitter almonds.

  5. Keep the bung out during fermentation, ensuring the vessel is full.

  6. When fermentation is quiet, remove the scum.

Finish and age

  1. Add 3 pints of French brandy.

  2. Seal for 2 years.

  3. After 2 years, bottle and age for an additional 18 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.

  1. Honey + grapetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together707 recipes

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

  2. Orange + almondtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,125 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Orange + grapetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,771 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Grape + almondtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,435 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-methylbutanol (malty, whiskey).

  5. Grape + brandytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together711 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

Strong moist sugar
Provides sweetness and fermentable sugar that yeast converts into alcohol.
Egg whites
When beaten and boiled, they coagulate and help collect impurities so the liquor clears.
Honey
Adds additional fermentable sugar and a rounded, aromatic sweetness.
Seville orange juice
Contributes acidity and bright citrus aroma to the fermenting liquor.
Gum arabic
Adds body and a smoother mouthfeel to the finished drink.
French brandy
Raises the alcohol content and fortifies the finished wine.

The step that matters

Skimming while the liquor boils. Egg whites must be allowed to coagulate and be skimmed away as the liquor simmers. Removing them clears the liquid; skipping this leaves cloudiness and off-flavours in the finished drink.

“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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