Name: Mulled Ale
Ingredients: 1 pint old ale; 2 or 3 lumps of sugar; a little nutmeg; 4 or 5 cloves

Why it works: Nutmeg and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Mulled Ale

Ingredients

1 pint old ale
2 or 3 lumps of sugar
a little nutmeg
4 or 5 cloves

Directions

In a small saucepan, heat the ale with the cloves and sugar until hot.
Pour the mixture into glasses.
Grate a little nutmeg on top of each glass.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,686 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Sugar + nutmegtop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together23,364 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Sugar + clovetop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together17,182 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Sugar and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 23,364 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

Old ale: Forms the liquid base and carries the spice and sweetness of the drink.
Sugar: Adds sweetness that balances the bitterness of the ale.
Cloves: Contribute warm, aromatic spice flavour as the ale heats.
Nutmeg: Adds a fresh, warm aroma on the surface of each glass.