Why it works: Sugar and gelatin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,778 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Wine Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Make the jelly base
In a pot, combine 1½ cups cold water and ½ cup boiling water.
Add 1½ cups wine, juice of 2 lemons, and the sliced lemon rind.
Stir in ¼ lb. sugar and bring to a boil.
Let it boil for 20 to 30 minutes until clear.
Clarify and set
Strain the mixture through a fine strainer.
In a separate bowl, beat the whites of 2 eggs until frothy.
Add the beaten egg whites and a bunch of raisins to the strained mixture.
Dissolve 1 box of gelatin in the mixture and stir well.
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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Sugar + gelatintop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,778 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Wine + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,157 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Lemon + raisintop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,742 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon and sugar 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
- Egg whites
- Beaten whites trap impurities that cling to them, helping the boiled liquid become clear.
- Gelatin
- Sets the liquid into a jelly as it cools.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and body to the jelly.
- Wine
- Gives the jelly its main flavor and color.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the wine flavor.
The step that matters
Boiling until clear. Boiling for the full 20 to 30 minutes helps the mixture reduce and clarify before straining. Stopping early can leave the jelly cloudy and less flavorful.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wine, lemon, sugar, egg, gelatin):
- Orangefits better
- Vanillafits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Raisinthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against wine, lemon, sugar, egg, gelatin. 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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