Name: Mint Julep
Ingredients: 12 sprigs young mint; 1 tablespoon white powdered sugar; ⅓ cup cognac brandy; ⅓ cup peach brandy; shaved ice; raspberries or strawberries; 2 slices orange

Why it works: Cognac brandy and brandy work together. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 82 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Mint Julep

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

In a tumbler, place the mint sprigs and add the powdered sugar.
Pour in equal parts of cognac and peach brandy to fill one-third of the tumbler.
Fill the tumbler with shaved ice.

Garnish and serve

Rub the rim of the tumbler with lemon or pineapple if desired.
Insert the mint into the ice with the stems downwards, creating a bouquet shape.
Garnish with raspberries or strawberries and orange slices.
Sprinkle a little powdered sugar over the mint for a frosted appearance.
Serve with two straws.

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.

Cognac brandy + brandytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together82 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Peach + orangetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together385 recipes

Shared aroma: pinene (pine, turpentine).
Mint + orangetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together549 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Peach + brandytop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together339 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Mint + peachtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together100 recipes

Shared aroma: phellandrene (minty).

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

What each ingredient does

Young mint: Provides the aromatic flavor and forms the bouquet garnish.
Cognac brandy: Supplies the main spirit flavor and alcohol base of the drink.
Peach brandy: Adds fruity sweetness and aroma that complements the cognac.
White powdered sugar: Sweetens the drink and dissolves into the spirits, lightly sweetening the mint.

Swap the mint

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cognac brandy, peach, brandy, orange):

Cinnamonfits better
Clovefits better
Gingerfits better
Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cognac brandy, peach, brandy, orange. 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.