Why it works: Cider and apple are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,238 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Mulled Cider
Ingredients
Directions
In a porcelain or agate vessel, combine the cider, baked apples, cloves, and bay leaves.
Bring the mixture very slowly to a boil.
Strain the cider and serve hot.
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.
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Cider + appletop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,238 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Clove + appletop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,774 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Cider + clovetop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,683 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cider
- Forms the liquid base and carries the spice and apple flavours throughout the drink.
- Baked apples
- Soften as they heat, releasing sweetness and body into the cider.
- Cloves
- Contribute warm, aromatic spice flavour that infuses the cider during heating.
- Bay leaves
- Add a subtle herbal, aromatic note that rounds out the spices.
The step that matters
Bring the mixture very slowly to a boil. Heating gently lets the spices and apple flavours extract gradually without scorching. Rapid boiling can make the drink taste harsh or muddy and can cause the liquid to scorch on the base of the vessel.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cider, apple):
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Clovethe original
- Allspicefits less well
- Gingerfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against cider, apple. 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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