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, Called in France Cherry Ratafia
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Stone a quantity of full ripe cherries and mix with a few raspberries.
Bruise the fruits well together and place them in a proper vessel.
Let them sit for four to five days, stirring and pressing them against the sides of the vessel two to three times daily.
Press out the juice as much as possible and measure it into a stone bottle.
Add brandy and flavourings
For every three quarts of juice, add two quarts of brandy.
For each five quarts of cherry brandy, add three pinches of bruised cherry kernels and a quarter pound of fine loaf sugar.
Infuse the mixture with a pinch of coriander and a little cinnamon.
Shake the bottle well every day for a week or more.
Strain and bottle
Strain the mixture through a cotton or flannel bag until very fine.
Bottle it in well-corked bottles and store 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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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).
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Brandy + sugartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Brandy + coriandertop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together176 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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
- Cherries
- Provide the main fruit flavour and juice that forms the base of the liqueur.
- Brandy
- Acts as the spirit base that extracts flavour from the fruit and preserves the liquid.
- Fine loaf sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the alcohol and the fruit's tartness.
- Bruised cherry kernels
- Contribute a bitter almond-like aroma to the finished liqueur.
The step that matters
Shake the bottle well every day for a week or more. Regular shaking keeps the juice, brandy and sugar mixed so the sugar dissolves and flavours extract evenly. Letting it settle leaves uneven sweetness and flavour.
Swap the coriander
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (brandy, sugar, cinnamon):
- Nutmegfits better
- Clovefits better
- Allspicefits better
- Corianderthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against brandy, sugar, 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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