Name: Dutch Flummery
Ingredients: ½ oz. isinglass; rind and juice of 1 lemon; 1 pint water; 4 eggs; 1 pint sherry, Madeira, or raisin wine; sifted sugar to taste; 1 tablespoon brandy (optional)

Why it works: Sherry and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,209 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Dutch Flummery

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

Combine water, isinglass, and lemon rind in a lined saucepan and simmer gently until isinglass dissolves.
Strain the mixture into a basin.

Thicken the custard

Stir in well-beaten eggs, strained lemon juice, and wine.
Sweeten with pounded sugar to taste.
Pour the mixture into a jug.
Set the jug in a saucepan of boiling water and stir continuously until it thickens, ensuring it does not boil.

Set and serve

Stir in brandy just before pouring into the mold.
Strain the mixture into an oiled or water-soaked mold.
Place in a cool area to set.

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.

Sherry + brandytop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,209 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Lemon + sherrytop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,273 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Egg + brandytop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,340 recipes

Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).
Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together44,316 recipes

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

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

Isinglass: Gelatin-like protein that dissolves in hot liquid and sets the mixture into a firm jelly as it cools.
Eggs: Thicken the mixture when gently heated and add richness and body to the flummery.
Sherry, madeira, or raisin wine: Adds flavour and sweetness, and its acidity balances the sugar and eggs.
Lemon: Lemon rind adds aroma and juice adds acidity that brightens the sweet, rich mixture.

The step that matters

Thickening the egg mixture over water. Eggs thicken as their proteins set with gentle heat, but above about 180°F they curdle and turn grainy. Keeping the jug in simmering, not boiling, water and stirring constantly gives a smooth custard that will set evenly.