Why it works: Champagne and wine work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 172 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓
Pink Champagne Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the sugar
Beat half the white of an egg to a stiff froth, and then stir it hard into three wine glasses of filtered water.
Put twelve ounces of the best double-refined loaf sugar (powdered fine and sifted) into a skillet lined with porcelain.
Pour the white of egg and water over it, and stir it till dissolved.
Then add twelve grains of cochineal powder.
Clarify and mix
Set it over a moderate fire, and boil it and skim it till the scum ceases to rise.
Then strain it through a very fine sieve.
Have ready an ounce and a half of isinglass that has been boiled in a little water till quite dissolved.
Strain it, and while the boiled sugar is lukewarm, mix it with the isinglass, adding a pint of pink champagne and the juice of a large lemon.
Run it through a linen bag into a mould.
Set and serve
When it has congealed so as to be quite firm, wrap a wet cloth round the outside of the mould, and turn out the jelly into a glass dish, or serve it broken up in jelly glasses or glass cups.
Jelly may be made in a similar manner with Madeira, marasquin, or noyau.
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.
-
Champagne + winetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together172 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
-
Sugar + champagnetop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together424 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Sugar + winetop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together9,581 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
- Loaf sugar
- Provides the sweetness and the bulk that the jelly sets around.
- Isinglass (in the method)
- Gelling agent that sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable jelly as it cools.
- Egg white (in the method)
- Coagulates when boiled and gathers impurities, clarifying the syrup into a clear jelly.
- Cochineal powder
- Gives the jelly its pink colour.
- Pink champagne
- Supplies the liquid and the wine flavour of the jelly.
- Lemon juice (in the method)
- Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness and sharpens the flavour.
The step that matters
Skimming while the syrup boils. Skimming removes the scum that rises as the egg white coagulates and carries impurities. Leaving it in makes the jelly cloudy and less clear.
“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.
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.