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Dessert

Devonshire Syllabub

A chilled dessert made with port wine, sherry, milk, sugar, clotted cream, and optional nutmeg or cinnamon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Port wine and sherry match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 132 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Devonshire Syllabub

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syllabub

  1. In a large bowl, combine the port wine and sherry with sugar to taste.

  2. Fill the bowl with milk until full.

  3. Chill the mixture until cold.

Finish and serve

  1. Top with clotted cream.

  2. Sprinkle grated nutmeg or pounded cinnamon over the top before serving.

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. Port wine + sherrytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together132 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Sherry + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,479 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

  5. Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,685 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Port wine
Provides the main flavour and body, with sweetness balanced by the sherry.
Sherry
Adds dry, nutty depth and acidity that cuts through the richness of the milk and cream.
Milk
Forms the creamy base that softens the wine into a mild, pale mixture.
Clotted cream
Adds a thick, rich layer on top and a smooth, fatty mouthfeel.

Swap the nutmeg

The recipe marks nutmeg as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (port wine, sherry, sugar, milk, cream):

  1. Cinnamonfits about as well
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Clovefits less well
  4. Macefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against port wine, sherry, sugar, milk, cream. 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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