Why it works: Sugar and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,939 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Mint-julep
Ingredients
Directions
Bruise the mint sprigs in a teaspoon of sugar dissolved in a few tablespoons of water.
Fill a glass one-third with the chosen wine.
Top with finely pounded ice.
Insert mint sprigs with stems downward to form a bouquet.
Drink through a straw.
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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Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Mint + brandytop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together140 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Mint + sugartop 32% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,592 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Sugar and brandy 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
- Fresh mint
- Bruised mint releases its aromatic oils, flavouring the drink and perfuming it.
- Sugar
- Sweetness that dissolves in the water and balances the alcohol's sharpness.
- Brandy, claret, sherry, or preferred wine
- Forms the base of the drink, supplying the main spirit flavour and alcohol.
- Finely pounded ice
- Chills the drink quickly and dilutes it slightly as it melts.
The step that matters
Bruise the mint sprigs. Bruising gently breaks open the leaf cells to release aromatic oils. Pressing too hard tears the leaves and can release bitter, grassy flavours into the drink.
Swap the mint
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, brandy):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Gingerfits better
- Mintthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, brandy. 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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