Why it works: Brandy and white wine work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 620 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Chili, or Cayenne Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Pound and steep the chilies or cayenne pepper in the brandy, white wine, or claret.
Let it steep for fourteen days.
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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Brandy + white winetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together620 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Pepper + white winetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,433 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + brandytop 32% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together934 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fresh red chilies
- Supply the heat and much of the pepper flavour that steeps into the liquid.
- Cayenne pepper
- Adds concentrated heat and sharp pepper flavour to the infusion.
- Brandy
- Alcohol base that extracts flavour and heat compounds from the chilies.
- White wine
- Adds liquid body and a light fruity character to the infusion.
- Claret
- Adds liquid body and deeper wine flavour to the infusion.
The step that matters
Steeping for fourteen days. Heat and flavour compounds dissolve slowly into alcohol, so the full fourteen days lets the liquid build its pungency and aroma. Stopping early gives a weaker, less balanced infusion.
“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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