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Dessert

Stock Jelly

A gelatinous dessert made by clarifying stock with egg whites, mace, lemon, sugar, and Madeira wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,806 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Stock Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a large pot, combine the stock, whipped egg whites, mace, lemon rind, and sugar.

  2. Bring to a boil for 10 minutes.

  3. Add the Madeira wine, lemon juice, and vinegar or cider, and boil for a few more minutes.

  4. Strain the mixture through a dripper.

  5. If the stock is not clear, you may need to use the whites of 12 eggs to clarify it.

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

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

  2. Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Mace + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,315 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  4. Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  5. Lemon + vinegartop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,334 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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
Clarify the stock as they cook and set, trapping impurities so the jelly becomes clear.
Sugar
Sweetens the jelly and helps it set firm and hold its shape when cooled.
Madeira wine
Adds depth and aroma, with a richer, slightly sweet flavour to the finished jelly.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the sweetness of the sugar.

The step that matters

Strain the mixture through a dripper. Egg whites clarify the stock only as they coagulate and trap particles; if the mixture is disturbed or strained too early, cloudiness remains and the jelly stays murky.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, lemon, sugar, madeira wine, vinegar):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, lemon, sugar, madeira wine, 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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