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 ↓
Wine Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Pour the cold water over the gelatine and let it stand for a few minutes.
Add the boiling water, sugar, lemon juice, and orange juice to the gelatine mixture.
When cool, add the wine.
Strain the mixture.
Put the strained mixture on ice to set.
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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Wine + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,157 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Wine + orangetop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,046 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + lemontop 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).
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
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a firm jelly as it cools.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps give the jelly a smooth, soft set.
- Wine
- Provides the main flavour and liquid base of the jelly.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the sweetness.
The step that matters
Add the wine only when the mixture is cool. Wine added to very hot gelatine can lose alcohol aroma and flavour, and gelatine needs a cooled liquid to set properly.
“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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