Why it works: Egg and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,340 recipes. Both carry acetoin, which smells butter, cream. The science ↓
Strawberry Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Make the jam
Combine strawberries and sugar in a preserving pan, stirring gently to avoid breaking the fruit.
Simmer the mixture for 30 minutes.
Transfer the jam into airtight pots.
Seal the pots
Cut round covers from writing paper.
Smear the inside of the covers with egg white.
Optionally, dip a circular paper in brandy and place it over the jam before sealing to prevent dampness.
Tie the covers over the pots with a cord.
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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Egg + brandytop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,340 recipes
Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).
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Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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
- Strawberries
- Provide the fruit, flavour and the pectin-bearing body of the jam.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jam and helps it set and keep longer.
- Egg white
- Acts as a glue to stick the paper covers to the pots.
The step that matters
Stirring gently when combining strawberries and sugar. Stirring gently keeps the fruit from breaking down too early, so the jam keeps pieces of fruit instead of turning to mush. Sugar drawn out of the fruit also needs even dissolving before simmering to avoid scorching on the pan base.
“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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