Why it works: Sugar and wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 31% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,581 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Wine Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the syrup
Boil and clarify the sugar in water.
Make the jelly
Dissolve the isinglass in a small amount of warm water.
Strain the dissolved isinglass into the syrup.
When nearly cold, add the wine and mix well.
Pour the mixture into a bowl.
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 + winetop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together9,581 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Loaf sugar
- Provides sweetness and the sugary body that the jelly sets within.
- Isinglass
- Gelatin-like setting agent that firms the liquid into a jelly as it cools.
- Wine
- Supplies the main flavour and acidity of the jelly.
The step that matters
Add the wine when nearly cold. Isinglass sets as the mixture cools, so adding wine while the syrup is still very hot can weaken the set and dull the wine's aroma. Waiting until it is nearly cold lets the jelly begin to firm while keeping the wine's flavour.
“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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