Name: Creme De Menthe Sundae
Ingredients: 1 scoop ice cream; creme de menthe syrup; 1 sprig of mint; 2 English walnut halves

Why it works: Cream and syrup are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,964 recipes mention both. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Creme De Menthe Sundae

Ingredients

1 scoop ice cream
creme de menthe syrup
1 sprig of mint
2 English walnut halves

Directions

Place one scoop of ice cream in a dish.
Pour crème de menthe syrup over the ice cream.
Garnish with a sprig of mint on top.
Add one English walnut half on each side.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Cream + syruptop 12% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together1,964 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Mint + walnuttop 14% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together139 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Cream + walnuttop 21% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together1,982 recipes

Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Syrup + walnuttop 27% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together350 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Syrup + minttop 33% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together193 recipes

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

What each ingredient does

Ice cream: Provides the cold, creamy base that the syrup coats and melts into.
Crème de menthe syrup: Adds mint flavour and sweetness, tinting the ice cream green.
English walnut halves: Add a crunchy, toasty contrast to the soft ice cream.

Flavor stand-ins for the mint

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, syrup, walnut):

Nutmegbetter flavor fit
Cinnamonbetter flavor fit
Celerybetter flavor fit
Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, syrup, walnut. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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.