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Dessert

Devonshire Junket

A milk-based dessert flavored with vanilla or almond, cinnamon, brandy, and rennet, set and dusted with nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Devonshire Junket

Ingredients

Directions

Make the junket

  1. In a bowl, mix the fresh milk with vanilla or almond flavoring, ground cinnamon, and brandy or rum.

  2. Add the rennet and stir well.

  3. Let the mixture stand in a warm place for 20 minutes.

Serve

  1. Dust with nutmeg or powdered cinnamon before serving.

  2. Pour thick cream over the top before serving.

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.

  1. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Vanilla + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  3. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  4. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Vanilla + nutmegtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Fresh milk
Forms the body of the junket, which the rennet sets into a soft curd.
Rennet
Enzyme that coagulates the milk proteins, setting it into a soft, spoonable custard.
Brandy or rum
Adds aroma and flavor to the set junket.
Thick cream
Adds richness and fat for a smooth finish at serving.

The step that matters

Let the mixture stand in a warm place for 20 minutes. Rennet works best when the milk is warm, so it sets into a tender curd. Cold milk sets slowly or not at all, and disturbing the mixture while it sets breaks the delicate curd.

“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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