Why it works: Sugar and mint are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 32% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,592 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
John Dabney's Mint Julep
Ingredients
Directions
Make the julep
In a glass, muddle the mint leaves with sugar and water until the sugar dissolves.
Fill the glass with crushed ice.
Pour the bourbon over the ice.
Garnish and serve
Garnish with additional mint leaves.
Serve with a straw.
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 + minttop 32% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,592 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Bourbon
- Provides the spirit base and most of the drink's warming flavour.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the drink and helps draw flavour from the mint leaves.
- Fresh mint leaves
- Supply the aroma and fresh herbal flavour that define the drink.
- Crushed ice
- Chills the drink and slowly dilutes it as it melts.
The step that matters
Muddling the mint with sugar and water. Gently pressing the mint releases its aromatic oils without bruising it into bitterness. Dissolving the sugar first in the water ensures even sweetness rather than gritty sugar at the bottom of the glass.
“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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