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Dessert

Jelly Mould

A gelatin dessert made with lemon juice, sherry, and optional spices, set in a mould.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and coriander match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,498 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Jelly Mould

Ingredients

Directions

Make the jelly

  1. Dissolve lemon juice in a small enamelled saucepan over low heat and strain through a jelly bag.

  2. If not clear, whip an egg white and strain again through the jelly bag.

  3. When nearly cool, add sherry.

  4. Pour into a pre-moistened mould.

Unmould

  1. Once set, dip the mould in warm water for a second.

  2. Place a glass dish over the mould, turn upside down, and gently release the jelly.

  3. If it doesn't come out, dip the mould in warm water again carefully.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Lemon + coriandertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,498 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Cinnamon + coriandertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,635 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Sherry + cinnamontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together649 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  5. Lemon + sherrytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,273 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that gives the jelly a bright, sharp flavour.
Sherry
Adds alcohol and flavour to the jelly.

The step that matters

Dip the mould in warm water briefly. Warming the outside of the mould melts a thin layer of set gelatine so the jelly slides free. Too long a dip can soften the whole jelly and cause it to lose its shape.

Swap the cinnamon

The recipe marks cinnamon as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, sherry, coriander):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Cinnamonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, sherry, coriander. 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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