Name: Mint Sauce for Lamb
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons minced green spearmint; 8 tablespoons vinegar; 1 teaspoon brown sugar

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 for Lamb

Ingredients

2 tablespoons minced green spearmint
8 tablespoons vinegar
1 teaspoon brown sugar

Directions

Wash and finely chop the green spearmint.
In a bowl, combine the minced spearmint, vinegar, and brown sugar, then mix well.
Serve cold.

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.

Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Spearmint + vinegartop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together34 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Spearmint + sugartop 29% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together42 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Green spearmint: Provides the fresh, aromatic herbal flavour that defines the sauce.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the sweetness.
Brown sugar: Adds sweetness that softens the sharpness of the vinegar.