Why it works: Rose and brandy work together. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 560 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
To Prepare Rennet
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the rennet
Take the stomach from the calf as soon as it is killed. Do not wash it, but hang it in a dry, cool place for four or five days.
Then turn it inside out, slip off all the curd nicely with the hand, fill it with a little saltpetre mixed with the necessary quantity of salt, and lay it in a small stone pot.
Pour over it a small teaspoonful of vinegar, and sprinkle a handful of salt over it, covering it closely to keep it for use.
Never wash it; that would weaken the gastric juice, and injure the rennet.
After it has been salted six or eight weeks, cut off a piece four or five inches long, put it in a large mustard bottle, or any vessel that will hold about a pint and a half.
Put on it five gills of cold water, and two gills of rose brandy.
Stop it very close, and shake it always before using.
It must be prepared in very cool weather, and if well done will keep more than a year.
Use the rennet
A tablespoonful of this is sufficient for a quart of milk.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 3 of 6 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Vinegar | 1 tbsp (15ml) distilled | 3 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
| Rose | not in our table | 0 |
| Brandy | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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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Rose + brandytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together560 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Brandy + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,738 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
-
Brandy + vinegartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together344 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Rose + milktop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,249 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Rose + vinegartop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together96 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
- Calf stomach (in the method)
- Supplies the natural enzymes that clot the milk, which is the whole purpose of the rennet.
- Salt
- Preserves the stomach while it cures and keeps the rennet stable for storage.
- Cold water
- Draws the enzymes out of the stomach piece into a liquid that can be measured and poured.
- Rose brandy
- Acts as a preservative that helps the rennet keep for a long time.
- Milk
- The protein that the rennet enzymes coagulate into curd.
The step that matters
Never wash the stomach. Washing removes the gastric juice and its enzymes, which weakens the rennet. Clotting depends on those enzymes staying intact, so the stomach must be kept unwashed and only salted.
“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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