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Mint Julep

A cocktail made with mint, brandy, Jamaica spirits, sugar, and finely pounded ice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Brandy and spirit work together. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 209 recipes. Both carry ethyl benzoate, which smells sweet. The science ↓

Mint Julep

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pick off and wash the mint leaves.

  2. Mix the brandy and Jamaica spirits in a tumbler.

  3. Pour the liquor over the mint to extract the flavor.

Sweeten and serve

  1. Strain the mixture over the sugar and stir until dissolved.

  2. Add the finely pounded ice and stir well.

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. Brandy + spirittop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together209 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (sweet).

  2. Mint + spirittop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together33 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Brandy + sugartop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 recipes

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

  4. Mint + brandytop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together140 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Spirit + sugartop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together602 recipes

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

Brandy and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Young mint leaves
Provide the main aroma, which the spirits draw out when they steep over the leaves.
Brandy
Carries the mint aroma and adds warmth and body to the drink.
Jamaica spirits
Adds a strong, rich flavor base alongside the brandy.
Sugar
Sweetens the drink and balances the strong spirits.
Finely pounded ice
Chills and slightly dilutes the drink, softening its strength.

The step that matters

Pour the liquor over the mint to extract the flavor.. Steeping the mint in alcohol pulls out its aromatic oils, which water alone would not extract as well. Leaves left too long or crushed can turn bitter, so the infusion should be timed and strained cleanly.

Swap the mint

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against brandy, spirit, 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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