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Mint Sauce, Superior

A fresh mint sauce with sugar, lemon juice, French vinegar, and optional water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Mint and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,998 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Mint Sauce, Superior

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the mint finely.

  2. Pound the chopped mint and sugar in a mortar.

Make the sauce

  1. Add lemon juice and mix well.

  2. Gradually add French vinegar and stir.

  3. If desired, add a little water to reduce the piquancy.

  4. Let it stand for a while before serving.

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. Mint + lemontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,998 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

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

  3. Mint + vinegartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,376 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Lemon + vinegartop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,334 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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

Mint
Provides the main fresh herbal flavour and aroma of the sauce.
Sugar
Sweetens the sauce and balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
French vinegar
Adds acidity that gives the sauce its sharp, tangy bite.
Lemon juice
Adds extra acidity and brightness to the sauce.

The step that matters

Gradually add French vinegar and stir. Vinegar is strong and acidic, so adding it slowly lets you taste as you go and keep the balance of sweetness and sharpness right.

Swap the mint

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Peppermintfits better
  3. Dillfits better
  4. Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, lemon, vinegar. 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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