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Sauce

Mint Sauce

A condiment made from fresh mint, sugar, salt, and cider vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Cider and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,431 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Mint Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine the chopped mint, sugar, and salt in a bowl.

  2. Add the cider vinegar and mix well.

  3. Let the mixture stand for 1 hour 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. Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  2. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Mint + vinegartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,376 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Mint + cidertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together115 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Sugar + cidertop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,308 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Fresh mint
Provides the main aroma and flavor; bruising releases its oils into the vinegar.
Cider vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor and draws flavor out of the mint.
White sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with a touch of sweetness.

The step that matters

Letting the mixture stand for 1 hour. The sugar dissolves and the acid works on the bruised mint, pulling out flavor over time. Serving too soon gives a sharper, flatter sauce.

Swap the mint

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Peppermintfits better
  4. Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cider, vinegar. 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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