Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 14,027 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Prepare
Put the cinnamon stick, cloves, and lemon peel with a little water on low heat for a few hours.
Make the custard
Mix the egg yolks with the sugar in a heated bowl until foamy.
Add the herb extract and mix well.
Add the white wine while stirring well.
Place the mixture over a boiling pan of water and stir until it binds.
Serve
Serve hot.
This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.
Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together14,027 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Berry + lemontop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together57 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Cinnamon + sugartop 4% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together30,777 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Cinnamon + lemontop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Berry + cinnamontop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together34 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Cinnamon and sugar share little aroma chemistry, yet 30,777 recipes mention both: they likely 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
- Egg yolks
- Bind the mixture and thicken it into a smooth, custard-like texture when gently heated.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the yolks whip to a foamy, stable texture.
- White berry wine
- Supplies the liquid base and its flavour to the custard.
The step that matters
Place the mixture over a boiling pan of water and stir until it binds. Egg yolks thicken from gentle heat and can scramble if the heat is too high or they are left unstirred. Stirring constantly over simmering water, not direct boiling heat, keeps the custard smooth.
Flavor stand-ins for the berry
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, cinnamon, clove, lemon, sugar):
- Orangebetter flavor fit
- Vanillabetter flavor fit
- Raisinbetter flavor fit
- Berrythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, cinnamon, clove, lemon, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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