Why it works: Cinnamon and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,514 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Red Ratafia
Ingredients
Directions
Extract the juice
Put the cherries, raspberries, and strawberries in a stone jar and cover it tightly.
Place the jar in a kettle of water or on a hot hearth to extract the juice.
Make the ratafia
For every quart of juice, add ½ pound of clarified sugar and 1 quart of brandy.
Add cinnamon or cloves for flavor.
In a separate container, steep the blanched almonds and lemon rind in 1 quart of spirit for 4-5 days near the fire.
After steeping, add 1 pound of clarified sugar and let it stand for another 4-5 days, shaking frequently.
Filter the mixture through blotting paper before serving.
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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Cinnamon + almondtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,514 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,655 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Brandy + cinnamontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,199 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Black heart cherries
- Supply the main fruit juice that gives the ratafia its body and colour.
- Brandy
- Acts as the spirit that extracts and preserves the fruit flavour.
- Clarified sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the tartness of the fruit and spirit.
- Bitter almonds
- Contribute a distinct nutty, bitter aroma as they steep in the spirit.
The step that matters
Heating the jar to extract the juice. Gentle, sustained heat draws juice from the fruit without cooking it. Too little heat leaves the juice weak, while overheating can cook the fruit and cloud the liquid.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, brandy, cinnamon, almond):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, brandy, cinnamon, almond. 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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