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 ↓
Fruits in Brandy
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Choose the finest Morella cherries and cut off the stalks to about ½ inch long.
Place the cherries in glass jars.
Steep and serve
Dissolve 12 ounces of powdered sugar-candy in 1 quart of brandy and pour it over the cherries.
Cover the jars tightly with a bladder.
Serve the cherries for dessert in glasses.
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
- Morella cherries
- Provide the fruit, which soaks up the brandy syrup and becomes flavourful and tender.
- Powdered sugar-candy
- Adds sweetness and dissolves into the brandy to form a syrup.
- Brandy
- Acts as the preserving liquid, flavouring the fruit and keeping it from spoiling.
The step that matters
Cover the jars tightly. A tight seal keeps air out and the alcohol concentration stable, so the fruit steeps evenly and does not spoil or dry out while it soaks.
“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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