Name: Mint Julep
Ingredients: 4 lumps lump sugar; ½ cup cold water; crushed ice; brandy or whiskey; 1 thin slice of lemon; fresh mint sprigs

Why it works: Lemon and mint 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 Julep

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Wash the mint and let it chill in a clean cloth on ice for a few hours.
In a glass goblet, combine the sugar and cold water.

Build the drink

Add a generous amount of crushed ice.
Pour in the brandy or whiskey until the glass is almost full.
Garnish with a thin slice of lemon and sprigs of mint.
Serve with a long‑handled silver spoon.

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.

Lemon + minttop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,998 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together11,939 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Brandy + minttop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together140 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Brandy + lemontop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together5,351 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

Lump sugar: Dissolves in the cold water to sweeten the drink and balance the spirit.
Brandy or whiskey: Provides the base spirit, giving the drink its main strength and flavour.
Fresh mint sprigs: Adds aroma to the drink when the leaves are chilled and released into the glass.