Why it works: Egg and wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 33% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,918 recipes. Both carry 2-heptenal, which smells green. The science ↓
To Fine Port Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the finings
Beat the egg whites and shells in a wooden can or pail with a whisk until thick froth forms.
Add a little wine and whisk again.
If the pipe is full, remove 4 or 5 gallons of wine to make room for the finings.
Add the fresh-water sand to the finings and stir well.
Fine the wine
Add the finings to the wine and stir for 5 minutes.
Leave the bung out for a few hours to let the froth fall.
Bung it up.
Wait 8 to 10 days for the wine to be fine and ready for bottling.
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.
-
Egg + winetop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,918 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg whites and shells
- Their proteins and shell particles bind to haze and settle out, clarifying the wine.
- Fresh-water sand
- Adds weight so the fining particles sink through the wine more quickly.
The step that matters
Beat the egg whites and shells until thick froth forms. Whipping the whites into a stable foam gives the finings the air and surface needed to disperse evenly through the wine. Under-beaten egg white stays watery and clarifies less well.
“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.
You might also like
Wine Whey111 recipes
Raisin Wine64 recipes
Egg Wine58 recipes
Elderberry Wine51 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.