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Drink

To Mull Wine

A warm drink made by simmering red wine with spices and sugar, served hot with toast or biscuits.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

To Mull Wine

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Ensure the vessel is very clean.

Make the mulled wine

  1. In a small pot, combine water, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Boil until the flavors are extracted.

  2. Add the wine and sugar to the pot. Heat until it reaches boiling point.

Serve

  1. Serve hot with a strip of thin toast or biscuits.

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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Nutmeg + biscuittop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together368 recipes

    Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).

  5. Cinnamon + biscuittop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together312 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Red wine
Forms the base liquid and provides the main body and flavor of the drink.
Sugar
Adds sweetness to balance the tannins and spices in the wine.
Cinnamon stick
Releases warm, aromatic flavor into the hot liquid as it steeps.
Whole cloves
Contribute a pungent, warm aroma that infuses into the liquid.
Grated nutmeg
Adds a warm, sweet spice aroma to the liquid.

The step that matters

Boil the spices in water until the flavors are extracted. Spice aromatics are fat-soluble and extract best in heated liquid; boiling them in water first lets the flavors release before the wine is added. Heating the wine to a boil too aggressively can drive off alcohol and aroma, so keep it at a gentle heat.

“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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