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Drink

Cordial Waters

A sweet alcoholic infusion made with spices, dried fruit, and French brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Saffron and cardamom match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 342 recipes mention both. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Directions

Steep

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large stone jar.

  2. Cover and let it stand near the fire for three weeks.

  3. Stir it three times a week and keep it tightly sealed.

  4. Strain the mixture and bottle the liquid.

  5. Pour an additional bottle of French brandy over the ingredients.

  6. Let it stand for a week, stirring once a day.

Distill

  1. Distill the mixture in a cold still.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Saffron + cardamomtop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together342 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Coriander + cardamomtop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together872 recipes

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

  3. Anise + carawaytop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together38 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  4. Cardamom + nutmegtop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together249 recipes

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

  5. Saffron + coriandertop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together381 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

French brandy
Acts as the alcohol base that extracts and carries the flavours of the botanicals.
Raisins
Add sweetness and body to the infused liquid.
Figs
Add sweetness and body to the infused liquid.
Saffron
Adds colour and a distinctive aroma to the liquid.
Anise seeds
Contribute a strong licorice-like aroma to the infusion.
Liquorice
Adds sweetness and a root-like flavour to the infusion.

The step that matters

Stirring and sealing during the infusion. Alcohol extracts flavour and colour gradually, so the jar must stay tightly sealed to prevent evaporation and stirring keeps the solids in contact with the liquid for even extraction.

Flavor stand-ins for the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (saffron, anise, caraway, coriander, cardamom, fig, nutmeg):

  1. Limebetter flavor fit
  2. Lemonbetter flavor fit
  3. Orangebetter flavor fit
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against saffron, anise, caraway, coriander, cardamom, fig, nutmeg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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