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Drink

Shrub Brandy

A fortified drink made by steeping lemon juice, peel, sugar, and nutmeg in brandy and white wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Shrub Brandy

Ingredients

Directions

Infuse

  1. Combine 2 quarts of brandy with the juice and sliced peel of 5 lemons in a large bottle.

  2. Seal the bottle and let it stand for 3 days.

Finish and strain

  1. Add 3 pints of white wine, 1.5 pounds of loaf sugar, and ½ nutmeg.

  2. Strain the mixture through a flannel bag.

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. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Brandy + white winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together620 recipes

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

  3. Lemon + white winetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,832 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  4. Brandy + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,311 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. White wine + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,659 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

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

What each ingredient does

Brandy
Forms the alcoholic base that holds and carries the citrus and spice flavors.
Lemon juice
Adds sharp acidity that brightens the drink and balances the sugar.
White wine
Adds volume and a light, fruity body that softens the spirit.
Loaf sugar
Adds sweetness that rounds out the acidity and alcohol.
Nutmeg
Contributes warm, aromatic spice notes.

The step that matters

Seal and let it stand for 3 days. The spirit slowly draws flavor and aromatic oils from the lemon peel and juice during this time. Rushing it leaves the drink thin and harsh, so the full flavor only develops with steady, undisturbed steeping.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Nutmegthe original
  4. Marjoramfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against brandy, lemon, white wine, sugar. 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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