Why it works: Sherry and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,273 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓
Calfs Feet Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the stock
Boil the calf's feet in water until broken and reduced by half.
Strain the mixture.
Let it cool.
Remove the fat and sediment.
Clarify the jelly
In a saucepan, combine the jelly with sugar, sherry or brandy, lemon juice, and lemon peel.
Add the beaten egg whites and their shells.
Do not stir after it begins to boil.
Boil for 20 minutes after it rises to a head.
Pour through a hot, damp flannel jelly bag to clarify.
Place the bag over a basin and let the jelly run through until clear.
Set and serve
Pour the jelly into soaked moulds and let it set in a cool place or on ice in summer.
Dip the mould in hot water for a minute.
Invert 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.
-
Sherry + lemontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,273 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
-
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
-
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Sugar + sherrytop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,141 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar and lemon 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
- Calf's feet
- Provide gelatin, which sets the water into a firm jelly as it cools.
- Whites of 5 eggs
- Their proteins coagulate when heated, trapping sediment so the jelly can be strained clear.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the sharpness of the lemon and wine.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the sweetness.
The step that matters
Do not stir after it begins to boil. Stirring once the egg whites have begun to set breaks up the forming curds, so they disperse into the liquid and cloud the jelly instead of being caught in the bag.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, sherry, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Pineapplefits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, sherry, egg. 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.
More calf's feet jelly recipes
You might also like
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Lemon Sherbet103 recipes
Lemon Custard64 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.