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Sauce

Mint Sauce

A simple mint sauce made with vinegar, sugar, and mint leaves.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Fannie Merritt Farmer · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,806 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Mint Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Add sugar to vinegar.

  2. When dissolved, pour over mint and let stand thirty minutes on back of range to infuse.

  3. If vinegar is very strong, dilute with water.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

54Calories
0 gProtein
0 gFat
13 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Mint2 tbsp fresh (3g)2

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Fannie Merritt Farmer. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. See the original page.

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. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Mint + vinegartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,376 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Mint + sugartop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,592 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

Mint leaves
Supplies the fresh, aromatic flavour that defines the sauce as it infuses.
Vinegar
Provides the sharp acidity that carries the mint flavour and gives the sauce its bite.
Powdered sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar and dissolves quickly.

The step that matters

Dissolve the sugar before pouring over the mint. Powdered sugar dissolves readily in vinegar, so it should be fully dissolved before the mixture is poured over the mint. Undissolved grains would leave the sauce gritty and uneven in sweetness. Letting the mint steep in the liquid then draws out its aroma gradually.

Swap the mint

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Peppermintfits better
  4. Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar. 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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