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Orange-flower Ratafia

A sweet liqueur made by infusing orange blossom petals in sugar syrup and French brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Orange and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,706 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Orange-flower Ratafia

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Boil the sugar and water together until it forms a thick syrup.

  2. Add the orange blossom petals and boil for 2 minutes.

  3. Remove from heat and let cool until half cold.

Blend and infuse

  1. Stir in the white French brandy.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a clean, well-scalded stone pitcher or jar.

  3. Seal it air-tight once the liqueur is completely cool.

  4. Let it infuse for 3 to 4 weeks before straining out the flowers.

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. Orange + brandytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,706 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,212 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

Sugar
Sweetens the liqueur and, dissolved in water, forms the syrup that carries the floral flavour.
Orange blossom petals
Provide the orange blossom aroma that infuses into the spirit and syrup.
White french brandy
Acts as the alcoholic base that extracts and preserves the petal aroma.

The step that matters

Let the syrup cool before adding the brandy. Adding brandy to a hot syrup can drive off alcohol and aroma and reduce control over the infusion. Cooling until half cold, then fully cool before sealing, keeps the delicate orange blossom flavour intact and prevents pressure build-up in a sealed jar.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, brandy):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Apricotfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Orangethe 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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