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Dessert

To Make Orange Baskets for Jelly

A jelly made from calf's feet stock, lemon juice, sugar, and lemon rind, served in orange baskets.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Eliza Acton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

To Make Orange Baskets for Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the orange baskets

  1. Mark the handle of the basket evenly across the stalk end of the fruit with the back of a small knife, or with a silver one, letting it be about half an inch wide.

  2. Trace a line across from one end of the handle to the other exactly in the middle of the orange. Mark the other side in the same way.

  3. Cut just through the rind with the point of a penknife, being careful not to pierce the fruit itself.

  4. With a tea or dessertspoon, take off the quartered rind on either side of the handle.

  5. Pass a penknife under the handle itself.

  6. Work the point of a spoon gently between the orange and the basket until they are separated in every part.

  7. Take the fruit between the thumb and fingers and press it carefully out through one of the spaces on either side of the handle.

Make the jelly

  1. Break up a quart of strong calf's feet stock, ensuring it is clear of fat and sediment.

  2. Add a not very full half-pint of strained lemon juice.

  3. Add ten ounces of sugar, broken small.

  4. Add the rind of one lemon pared thinly, or from two to three if more flavor desired.

  5. Add the whites and part of the shells of five large or six small eggs, crushed small.

  6. Proceed as for the preceding jellies.

  7. When the mixture has boiled five minutes, throw in a small pinch of isinglass.

  8. Continue boiling for five or six minutes longer.

  9. Draw the pan from the fire and let it stand to settle.

  10. Turn it into the jelly-bag.

  11. If it is not perfectly clear, pour it in a second time.

Fill and serve

  1. Ensure the jelly is very clear.

  2. Fill the baskets with jelly, ensuring the jelly is nearly cold before pouring.

  3. Optionally fill some baskets with ratifias and alternate with jelly.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

201Calories
8 gProtein
6 gFat
32 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Eliza Acton. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

  1. Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,212 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and lemon 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

Calf's feet stock
Provides the gelatin that sets the jelly.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the jelly set firm.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity and bright flavour to the jelly.
Eggs
Their whites collect impurities as the jelly boils, clarifying it.
Lemon rind
Adds aromatic oil and fragrance to the jelly.

The step that matters

Keeping the jelly clear. Boiling the egg whites with the stock lets them coagulate and trap cloudiness and sediment. Straining through the jelly-bag, and re-straining if needed, gives a clear result. Pouring while the jelly is nearly cold keeps the baskets from softening or deforming.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, lemon, egg):

  1. Orangethe original
  2. Vanillafits about as well
  3. Limefits less well
  4. Raisinfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, lemon, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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