Why it works: Orange and lemon 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
Prepare the flavoring
Grate the peel of the oranges and lemons and steep it in 1 pint of cold water.
Once the flavor is extracted, mix the steeped water with the orange and lemon juice.
Make and clarify the jelly
Add 1 lb of loaf sugar, 1½ ounces of isinglass, and the beaten whites of 7 eggs.
Put the mixture into a saucepan and stir until it boils.
Let it boil for a few minutes, then strain it through a jelly bag until clear.
Set
Pour the jelly into a mold or glasses.
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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Orange + lemontop 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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Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Isinglass
- Gelling agent that sets the liquid into a firm jelly as it cools.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the juice and helps give the jelly its body and set.
- Egg whites
- Clarifying agent that binds impurities so they can be strained out, leaving a clear jelly.
- Orange and lemon juice
- Provides the main acidity and citrus flavor of the jelly.
- Grated citrus peel
- Releases aromatic oils into the water, flavoring the jelly.
The step that matters
Straining through the jelly bag until clear. Egg whites must be fully heated so they coagulate and trap cloudiness, and the jelly must be strained gently without squeezing. Rushing or pressing the bag lets cloudy particles pass through, leaving the jelly hazy.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, sugar, egg):
- Orangethe original
- Vanillafits about as well
- Limefits less well
- Raisinfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, sugar, 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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