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Mint Cordial

A mint-infused alcoholic cordial made with whisky and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Whisky and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,008 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Mint Cordial

Ingredients

Directions

Make the infusion

  1. Wash the mint and bruise it slightly.

  2. Place the mint in a stone jar and cover it with whisky.

  3. Let it stand for 24 hours.

  4. Strain the mixture.

Finish and bottle

  1. Add 1 pint of sugar to the strained liquid.

  2. Bottle the cordial.

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.

  1. Whisky + sugartop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,008 recipes

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

  2. Mint + whiskytop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together41 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  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

Fresh mint
Bruising releases its aromatic oils, which the whisky draws out to flavour the cordial.
Whisky
Acts as the solvent that extracts mint flavour and preserves the infused liquid.
Granulated sugar
Adds sweetness and body to balance the strong, alcoholic infusion.

The step that matters

Letting the mint stand for 24 hours. Mint flavour is extracted slowly by the alcohol. Too short a rest leaves the cordial weak, while the steeping time sets its aroma and colour.

Swap the mint

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Gingerfits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against whisky, 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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