Name: Mulled Wine {Ringer}
Ingredients: 1 cup water; 1 cup sherry or other wine; 2 teaspoons sugar; spices (cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, or mace)

Why it works: Sherry and clove are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,237 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Mulled Wine {Ringer}

Ingredients

1 cup water
1 cup sherry or other wine
2 teaspoons sugar
spices (cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, or mace)

Directions

Boil the spices in water to flavor the wine.
Add the sherry and sugar.
Bring to a boil.
Serve with toasted bread pieces.

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.

Sherry + clovetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,237 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Sherry + sugartop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,141 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar + clovetop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together17,182 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Sugar and clove barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 17,182 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

Sherry or other wine: Forms the liquid base and carries the flavor of the spices.
Spices (cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, or mace): Supply the warm aroma that defines the drink.
Sugar: Adds sweetness to balance the wine's acidity.