Skip to main content
Dessert

Brandy Oranges

Oranges preserved in a brandy and sugar syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Orange and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,706 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Brandy Oranges

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the oranges

  1. Remove the rind from the oranges.

  2. Puncture the oranges.

  3. Soak the oranges in fresh water.

  4. Blanch the oranges in boiling water.

  5. Plunge the oranges into cold water.

Make the syrup

  1. Dissolve the sugar in water.

  2. Boil the sugar solution to make a syrup.

  3. Place the oranges in a kettle.

  4. Pour the syrup over the oranges.

  5. Boil the oranges until the surface is covered with bubbles.

  6. Remove the oranges and let them stand for 24 hours.

  7. Boil the oranges again to the same point.

  8. Drain the oranges.

  9. Repeat the boiling process a third time.

Add the brandy and preserve

  1. Put the syrup back on the fire.

  2. Boil the syrup for a few minutes.

  3. Once cooled, mix in the brandy thoroughly.

  4. Filter the mixture through a cloth.

  5. Pour the filtered mixture over the oranges until they are fully covered.

  6. Seal the jars tightly to preserve the oranges.

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. Orange + brandytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,706 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,212 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

Oranges
Provide the fruit that is softened, flavoured and preserved in the syrup.
Sugar
Makes the syrup that sweetens the fruit and helps preserve it.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavour and contributes to preservation once mixed into the syrup.

The step that matters

Repeated boiling of the oranges. Boiling the oranges several times with rests between lets the syrup gradually penetrate the fruit. Rushing this leaves the peel bitter and the fruit poorly sweetened and less stable in storage.

Swap the orange

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Apricotfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Orangethe original

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

You might also like

Orange Bundt CakeOrange Bundt Cake349 recipesOrange Cream Rice PuddingOrange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipesOrange GelatinOrange Gelatin100 recipesOrange SherbetOrange Sherbet73 recipes