Why it works: Spirit and wine work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 701 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, fruity. The science ↓
Aniseed Cordial
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the oil of aniseed, spirit of wine, and syrup together well.
It is ready 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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Spirit + winetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together701 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
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Spirit + syruptop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together141 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Wine + syruptop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together381 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Oil of aniseed
- Provides the concentrated anise flavour that defines the cordial.
- Spirit of wine
- Carries the aromatic oil and keeps the flavour evenly dispersed in the liquid.
- Syrup
- Adds sweetness and body, balancing the strong alcohol and anise notes.
The step that matters
Mixing the oil of aniseed thoroughly. Oil does not dissolve in water-based liquids, so it must be blended well into the spirit and syrup. Poor mixing leaves uneven pockets of strong flavour.
“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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