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Mulled Cider and Wine

A hot drink of cider or wine spiced with allspice, mixed with beaten eggs and finished with nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,331 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Mulled Cider and Wine

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a pot, combine 1 teacup of cider or wine and 1 teacup of water.

  2. Bring to a boil with a little allspice.

  3. In a bowl, beat 3 eggs.

  4. Mix the eggs with ½ pint of cider or wine.

Make and serve

  1. Once the mixture boils, stir in the egg mixture.

  2. Sweeten to taste.

  3. Add grated nutmeg 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. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cider + allspicetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together873 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  3. Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together24,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Cider + nutmegtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together884 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Allspice + eggtop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

Egg and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 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

Eggs
Beaten eggs thicken the hot liquid into a creamy, lightly set body when stirred in.
Cider or wine
Forms the main liquid base and provides the fruity, acidic flavour of the drink.
Allspice
Adds warm, aromatic spice flavour to the hot liquid as it simmers.

The step that matters

Stir in the egg mixture once the liquid boils. Egg proteins set when heated, so adding the beaten eggs to a boiling liquid while stirring keeps them in fine, smooth strands. Adding them too cold or without stirring can leave lumps or a curdled texture.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cider, egg, nutmeg):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Allspicethe original
  3. Clovefits less well
  4. Cardamomfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against cider, egg, nutmeg. 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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