Name: Grape Wine
Ingredients: 1 gallon fresh grape juice; 2 gallons water; 3.5 pounds loaf sugar; 2 eggs; 1 quart brandy (optional)

Why it works: Grape and brandy work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 711 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Grape Wine

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the juice

Strain fresh-gathered ripe grapes to obtain juice.

Make the wine

Combine 1 gallon of grape juice with 2 gallons of water and 3.5 pounds of loaf sugar.
Allow the mixture to ferment for about six weeks.
Add 2 eggs to clarify the wine.
If desired, stir in 1 quart of brandy.
Barrel the wine as usual.

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.

Grape + brandytop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together711 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Egg + brandytop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,340 recipes

Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).
Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together11,939 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Grape + sugartop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together7,490 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

Grape juice: Provides the fruit base, sugar source and flavor for fermentation into wine.
Loaf sugar: Feeds the yeast during fermentation, producing alcohol and contributing sweetness to the finished wine.
Eggs: Their proteins bind suspended particles and carry them down, clarifying the wine.
Brandy: Raises the alcohol content and adds warmth and aroma to the finished wine.