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Curacao Sauce

A sauce made by steeping orange peel in proof spirit, adding simple syrup, boiling with cloves, and finishing with brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Spirit and brandy work together. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 209 recipes. Both carry ethyl benzoate, which smells sweet. The science ↓

Curacao Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Flavor the spirit

  1. Steep orange peel in proof spirit.

  2. Add three times as much simple syrup to the flavored spirit.

Finish the sauce

  1. Boil with a few cloves and grated orange peel.

  2. Strain the mixture.

  3. Add ½ pint of good brandy.

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. Spirit + brandytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together209 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (sweet).

  2. Orange + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,987 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Orange + spirittop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together171 recipes

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

  4. Brandy + clovetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,362 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Orange peel
Supplies the citrus oils that give the sauce its orange aroma and flavor.
Proof spirit
Acts as a solvent that draws flavor and aroma compounds out of the peel.
Simple syrup
Adds sweetness and body, balancing the bitterness and alcohol sharpness of the spirit.
Good brandy
Adds depth, warmth and aroma from its own flavor compounds.
Cloves
Contribute a warm, spicy aroma to the sauce.

The step that matters

Boil with a few cloves and grated orange peel.. Boiling drives off alcohol and the most volatile aroma compounds, so the boil changes how strong and aromatic the sauce tastes.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Gingerfits about as well
  3. Clovethe original
  4. Nutmegfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against orange, spirit, syrup, 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.

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