Why it works: Mint and brandy work together. They rank in the top 22% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 140 recipes. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. The science ↓
Mint Julep, an American Receipt
Ingredients
Directions
Strip the tender leaves of mint into a tumbler.
Add as much brandy or spirit as desired.
Put pounded ice into a second tumbler.
Pour the mixture from the first tumbler onto the ice in the second tumbler.
Continue to pour the mixture back and forth between the tumblers.
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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Mint + brandytop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together140 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tender mint leaves
- Releases aromatic oils that give the julep its fresh minty aroma and flavor.
- Brandy or other spirit
- Provides the alcoholic base and most of the drink's flavor and aroma.
- Pounded ice
- Chills the drink and slowly melts to dilute it, softening the spirit's sharpness.
The step that matters
Pouring back and forth between the tumblers. Pouring chills and mixes the drink evenly as the ice melts slightly. Too little pouring leaves it warm, unevenly mixed, and harsher in taste, so the mint and spirit do not balance well.
“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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