Why it works: Sugar and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,939 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Brandied Cherries
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cherries
Select firm, not too ripe cherries and wipe them dry with a soft cloth.
Snip the stems close to the fruit, leaving a tiny bit of the stem on each cherry.
Make the syrup and steep
Pound and sift the sugar, then dissolve it in the brandy.
Pour the brandy over the cherries, covering them completely.
Cork the jar tightly to keep out air and seal the top with melted wax.
Use
When ready to use, carefully remove the pit from one side of the cherry and take off the stem.
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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Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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
- Loaf sugar
- Dissolves in the brandy to sweeten the liquid and preserve the fruit.
- Brandy
- Acts as the steeping liquid that preserves the cherries and carries flavor into the fruit.
The step that matters
Covering the cherries completely with brandy. Fruit left exposed above the liquid can spoil and mold. Keeping every cherry submerged and the jar sealed to exclude air helps the fruit stay preserved during steeping.
“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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