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Drink

Mulled Wine

A warm beverage made by infusing cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and sugar in boiling water, then mixed with hot Port or Sherry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Mulled Wine

Ingredients

Directions

Infuse the spices

  1. Combine the cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves in boiling water.

  2. Infuse for 1 hour.

  3. Strain the mixture.

Finish the wine

  1. Add the lump sugar and stir until dissolved.

  2. Mix with the hot Port or Sherry wine.

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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Clove + sherrytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,237 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Cinnamon
Adds warm, sweet aroma that carries the spiced flavour of the drink.
Nutmeg
Adds a warm, aromatic spice note that deepens the overall flavour.
Cloves
Adds a strong, pungent aroma that defines the spiced character of the drink.
Lump sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the tannins and spice of the wine.
Port or sherry wine
Forms the base liquid, providing body, alcohol and fruity flavour.

The step that matters

Infuse for 1 hour. Spice flavour is extracted slowly into hot liquid, so the full hour lets the cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves release their aromas. Skipping or shortening the infusion leaves the drink weak and under-spiced.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Clovethe original
  2. Allspicefits about as well
  3. Cardamomfits less well
  4. Gingerfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, sherry. 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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