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To Make Jelly with Isinglass

A jelly made with isinglass, sugar, sherry, lemon juice, egg whites, and lemon rind.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Jacqueline Harrison Smith (ed.) · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,742 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

To Make Jelly with Isinglass

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the isinglass

  1. Take 2½ oz. of isinglass and soak it in cold water for ½ hour.

  2. Strain the isinglass and pour it into ½ gallon of boiling water.

  3. When the mixture is cold, add 1½ lbs. of sugar, 1 qt. of good sherry, and the juice of 4 lemons, along with the whites and shells of 6 eggs (washed carefully).

  4. Stir well before putting the mixture on the fire.

  5. Let it boil until clear, but do not stir.

  6. Add 1 gill of cold water.

  7. Strain the mixture through a bag over a rind cut thin of the lemons.

  8. Strain through a second bag if the liquid is not clear.

Make the calves' feet stock

  1. To 8 calves' feet carefully prepared, add 11 qts. of water and let boil for 7 hours.

  2. Skim the surface well.

  3. When the mixture is cold, set it aside to congeal.

Combine and finish

  1. Take 1½ gal. of the stock and add 3 pints of wine (sherry), 3 lbs. of sugar, 1½ dozen lemons from which to take juice, 1½ dozen whites of eggs, and 1 bunch of raisins.

  2. Add the rind of 2 lemons peeled thin.

  3. Let it boil for 20 minutes from the time it begins to boil.

  4. Run the mixture through a strainer.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

152Calories
7 gProtein
6 gFat
20 gCarbs

Counts 3 of 4 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Waternot in our table0

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

By Jacqueline Harrison Smith (ed.). 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. Raisin + lemontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,742 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

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

  3. Raisin + eggtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,556 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Lemon and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 44,316 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

Isinglass (in the method)
Sets the liquid into a clear jelly as it cools.
Calves' feet
Supply gelatin that gives the stock body and helps it congeal.
Egg whites
Coagulate with heat and trap impurities, clarifying the jelly.
Sugar (in the method)
Adds sweetness and balances the sharpness of the lemon.
Lemons
Add acidity and bright aroma from juice and rind.
Sherry (in the method)
Adds flavour and aroma to the jelly.

The step that matters

Let it boil until clear, but do not stir.. Stirring disturbs the coagulating egg whites and clarifying layer, so impurities mix back in and the jelly stays cloudy.

Swap the raisin

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

  1. Orangefits better
  2. Limefits better
  3. Raspberryfits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against 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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