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Brandy Sangaree

A chilled brandy drink served over shaved ice with a splash of Port wine and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Brandy and port wine work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 127 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Brandy Sangaree

Ingredients

Directions

Make the drink

  1. Dissolve the sugar in a little water.

  2. Add the brandy.

  3. Fill the glass one-third full of shaved ice.

  4. Shake well.

  5. Strain into a small glass.

Finish and serve

  1. Dash a little Port wine on top.

  2. Serve with a little grated nutmeg.

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. Brandy + port winetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together127 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  3. Port wine + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together462 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  4. Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + nutmegtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together23,364 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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

Brandy
Provides the main spirit flavour and warmth that defines the drink.
Fine white sugar
Dissolves to add sweetness that balances the brandy's strength.
Port wine
Floated on top as a dash, adding fruity aroma and a deeper colour.

The step that matters

Dissolving the sugar fully. Sugar dissolves far more readily in a small amount of liquid when it is stirred or shaken into warm or room-temperature water first. Undissolved grains left at the bottom leave the drink unevenly sweet.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Clovefits about as well
  3. Nutmegthe original
  4. Allspicefits about as well

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