Why it works: Sugar and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,939 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Cherry Brandy
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cherries
Cut off the stalks of the cherries, leaving about 1 inch.
Wipe the cherries with a soft cloth.
Bottle and steep
Place the cherries and sugar in alternate layers in dry wide-necked bottles.
Fill the bottles with brandy, cork them tightly, and cover the tops with melted wax or bladder.
Let the mixture sit for at least 2 months before using.
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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Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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
- Morelia cherries
- Provide the fruit flavour and juice that mingles with the brandy as it steeps.
- Castor sugar
- Sweetens the brandy and draws juice out of the cherries as it dissolves.
- French brandy
- Acts as the alcoholic base that extracts and preserves the cherry flavour.
The step that matters
Letting the mixture sit for at least 2 months. Flavour develops slowly as the brandy, sugar and cherry juices mix and mellow. Using it early gives a harsher, less rounded taste, so the full rest is what makes the liqueur.
“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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