Why it works: Sugar and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,679 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Sloe Gin
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and steep
Prick the sloes with a needle.
In a small cask, combine the sloes, gin, sugar candy, and ground almonds.
Stir thoroughly twice during the first week.
Leave to stand until early in the new year.
Strain and mature
Strain and bottle the mixture.
Let it mature for twelve months.
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 + almondtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Gin + sugartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together344 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Gin + almondtop 29% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sloes
- Provide the main fruit flavour and the deep colour of the gin.
- Gin
- Acts as the solvent that draws flavour and colour out of the sloes and preserves the mixture.
- Sugar candy
- Adds sweetness that balances the sharp, astringent taste of the sloes.
- Ground almonds
- Contribute a subtle nutty aroma to the infused spirit.
The step that matters
Pricking the sloes. Sloe skins are tough and waxy, so pricking them lets the gin penetrate the fruit and extract colour and flavour. Unpricked sloes release far less into the spirit over the steeping period.
“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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