Why it works: Currant and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,057 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Currant Wine
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare the currants
Gather currants on a dry day and bruise them in a large pan with a wooden pestle.
Let them ferment in a tub or pan for 24 hours.
Strain the mixture through a hair sieve without touching the liquid.
Add sugar and brandy
Add 2½ pounds of sugar for every gallon of liquid and stir well.
For every six gallons, add 1 quart of brandy and transfer to a vessel.
Rest and bottle
Let it stand for six weeks.
If clear, bottle the wine.
If not clear, transfer to another vessel and let it sit for another two weeks before bottling.
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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Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,057 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Currant + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,256 recipes
Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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
- Full ripe currants
- Provide the fruit, juice and natural sugars that ferment into the wine.
- White sugar
- Feeds the fermentation and adds sweetness and body to the finished wine.
- Brandy
- Raises the alcohol content, which helps preserve the wine and stop fermentation.
The step that matters
Straining without touching the liquid. Disturbing the sediment at the bottom of the fermented mash can carry solids into the liquid, which cloud the wine and can add rough flavours. Pouring off gently keeps the wine clearer.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, brandy):
- Vanillafits better
- Apricotfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, brandy. 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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