Why it works: Cinnamon and laurel match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 691 recipes. Both carry cinnamyl acetate, which smells sweet aromatic, cinnamon. The science ↓
Juice of Fresh-cathered Fruit Iced
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Press the currants or raspberries through a sieve to extract the juice.
Add the pounded sugar, a little lemon juice, and cream to the juice.
Whisk the mixture before freezing if desired.
In a teacup of water, dissolve the isinglass by boiling.
When warm, add the dissolved isinglass to a quart of rich cream.
Add the cinnamon stick, lemon peel, laurel leaves, and sweeten with sugar.
Stir over heat and let it boil for 2 to 3 minutes.
Strain through muslin into a deep dish and stir until nearly cold.
Set and serve
Pour into an earthenware mold and refrigerate overnight.
To unmold, dip the mold in warm water for a minute, then turn it out onto a dish.
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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Cinnamon + laureltop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together691 recipes
Shared aroma: cinnamyl acetate (sweet aromatic, cinnamon).
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Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Lemon + laureltop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,239 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Isinglass
- Gelatin-like setting agent that firms the mixture so it holds its shape when unmolded.
- Cream
- Adds fat and richness, giving the ice a smooth, creamy texture.
- Currants or raspberries
- Provide the main fruit flavour, tartness and colour.
- Pounded loaf sugar
- Adds sweetness and softens the flavour of the fruit's tartness.
The step that matters
Dissolving the isinglass. Isinglass must be fully dissolved by boiling in water before it is added, or it will not set evenly and may leave gritty lumps in the finished ice.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, lemon, cream, cinnamon, laurel):
- Orangefits better
- Vanillafits better
- Limefits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, lemon, cream, cinnamon, laurel. 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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