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Drink

Mulled Wine

A warm spiced wine beverage made with cloves, allspice, cinnamon, claret, sherry or Madeira, cream, brandy, and egg yolks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Mulled Wine

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the spiced wine

  1. Combine white cloves, allspice, cinnamon, and boiling water in a saucepan; cover and simmer until reduced by half.

  2. Strain the mixture, then add sugar and claret; reheat almost to boiling and serve.

Make the egg mixture

  1. For the second part, combine half the wine, boiling water, and allspice in a pot.

  2. In a bowl, beat the egg yolks with sugar and the remaining wine.

  3. After boiling the water, wine, and allspice for 5 minutes, pour it over the egg mixture and beat well.

  4. Return the mixture to the pot and heat nearly to boiling while stirring constantly.

Finish and serve

  1. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and combine with the mixture in a punch bowl or pitcher.

  2. Add cream and brandy, then serve immediately.

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. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Sherry + brandytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,209 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  5. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 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

Egg yolks
Thicken the punch and add a rich, smooth body when heated gently.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the acidity of the wine.
Claret
Provides the wine base, with acidity and fruity flavor.
Cream
Adds richness and a softer, creamier texture.
Brandy
Adds warming strength and aroma to the finished drink.

The step that matters

Heating the egg mixture while stirring constantly. Egg yolks thicken when heated gently but curdle if they get too hot. Pouring the hot liquid in slowly and stirring constantly keeps the mixture smooth and prevents it from scrambling.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clove, cinnamon, sugar, sherry, cream, brandy, egg):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Allspicethe original
  3. Cardamomfits about as well
  4. Gingerfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against clove, cinnamon, sugar, sherry, cream, brandy, egg. 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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