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Cinnamon, Allspice, and Flip

A spiced flip made with cinnamon, allspice, brandy, ale, eggs, and sweetened with sugar and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Cinnamon, Allspice, and Flip

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the flavorings

  1. Combine 3 ounces of bruised cinnamon with a bottle of French brandy; let stand for 2 weeks, shaking occasionally, then strain.

  2. Mix 1 drachm of oil of pimento with 2 ounces of proof spirit; use a few drops to flavor a pint of gravy.

Make the flip

  1. Warm 1 quart of ale in a pot.

  2. Beat 3-4 eggs with 4 tablespoons of moist sugar and 1 teaspoon of grated nutmeg or ginger.

  3. Add ¼ quart of good old rum or brandy to the egg mixture.

  4. When the ale is near boiling, combine it with the egg mixture, pouring back and forth until smooth.

  5. Use boiling water instead of ale and mix with sugar and spice.

  6. Beat with 4 glasses of madeira or sherry in the same manner.

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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Rum + sherrytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together146 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  3. Brandy + rumtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,058 recipes

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

  4. Brandy + spirittop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together209 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (sweet).

  5. Brandy + sherrytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,209 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set when heated, giving the flip its thick, creamy structure and body.
Ale
Forms the hot liquid base, adding body and malty flavor.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the spirits and spices.
Cinnamon
Infused in brandy to provide the dominant warm aroma.
Nutmeg or ginger
Adds aromatic spice that lifts the flavor of the drink.
Madeira or sherry
Adds sweetness and fortified wine flavor to the finished flip.

The step that matters

Combining the hot ale with the egg mixture. Pouring the hot liquid slowly while mixing constantly warms the eggs gradually, so they thicken smoothly. Adding it all at once or letting it get too hot can scramble the eggs and leave lumps.

“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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