Name: Cherry Brandy
Ingredients: full ripe cherries; raspberries; brandy; fine loaf sugar; bruised cherry kernels; coriander; cinnamon

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 ↓

Cherry Brandy

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fruit

Stone cherries and mix with a few raspberries.
Bruise the mixture well and place it in a vessel for 4-5 days, stirring and pressing daily.
Press out the juice and measure it into a stone bottle.

Make the brandy

For every 3 quarts of juice, add 2 quarts of brandy.
Add 3 pinches of bruised cherry kernels and ¼ pound of fine loaf sugar.
Infuse with a pinch of coriander and a little cinnamon, shaking daily for a week or more.
Strain through a cotton or flannel bag and bottle it.
Store in a cool cellar for use.

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.

Coriander + cinnamontop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,635 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Cherry + cinnamontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together551 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Cherry + coriandertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together333 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Brandy + cinnamontop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,199 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

Full ripe cherries: Provide the main juice and flavour that the brandy takes up during infusion.
Brandy: Acts as the spirit base that extracts and preserves the fruit flavour.
Fine loaf sugar: Adds sweetness and balances the sharpness of the cherry juice and brandy.