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Mulled Cider

Wayne Collins’ spicy, aromatic drink will hit the spot on a cold winter’s night.

By bbcfood · From Open Recipes · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Whisky and cider share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 28 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 4
Prep30 min
Cook10 min

Ingredients

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Cut the clementine into thin rounds. Cut the lemon into wedges and push the 8 cloves into the wedges.

  2. Lightly crush the 4 cardamom and set aside with the 4 cinnamon.

  3. Pour the cider into a large saucepan and add the clementine rounds, lemon wedges, cardamom and cinnamon.

  4. Heat over medium-low, stirring occasionally, for about 6 minutes until steaming hot and just below a simmer. Do not let it boil.

  5. Stir in the clear honey until fully dissolved.

  6. Add the whisky and orange liqueur and heat gently for 2 minutes more without boiling.

  7. Grate a little fresh nutmeg over the pan, stir and taste, then adjust with more nutmeg if you like.

  8. Strain into heatproof glasses or mugs, discarding the solids, and serve hot.

By bbcfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

  1. Whisky + cidertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together28 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together14,027 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Cardamom + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,299 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together10,632 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Cardamom + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cardamom, clove, whisky, orange, honey, cider, cinnamon):

  1. Applebetter flavor fit
  2. Figbetter flavor fit
  3. Grapebetter flavor fit
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cardamom, clove, whisky, orange, honey, cider, cinnamon. 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).