Why it works: Lemon and orange 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 ↓
Orange Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Make the jelly
Soften the gelatine in cold water.
Dissolve the gelatine in boiling water.
Add the sugar, lemon juice, and orange juice.
Strain the mixture through cheesecloth.
Mould the jelly.
Garnish and serve
Garnish with orange slices held in place with a little jelly.
Unmould the jelly.
Surround with whipped cream.
Sprinkle with candied orange peel.
Serve the jelly in an orange basket made from the skin.
Top with whipped cream.
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.
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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Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,634 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Lemon and sugar 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
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable jelly once it cools.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and balances the tartness of the juices.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the orange juice.
- Orange juice
- Provides the main liquid and the orange flavour of the jelly.
The step that matters
Soften the gelatine in cold water. Gelatine must hydrate fully in cold liquid before it is dissolved in boiling water. Adding it dry or straight to hot liquid can leave lumps or weaken the set.
“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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