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Rhubarb Flummery

A sweetened rhubarb dessert thickened with isinglass and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Rhubarb Flummery

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the isinglass in cold water for 1 hour.

  2. Cut rhubarb into small pieces and simmer in just enough water to cover until soft, about 15-30 minutes.

Make the flummery

  1. Drain the juice and combine it in a saucepan with the soaked isinglass, stirring until dissolved.

  2. Rub the fruit through a sieve and mix the pulp with the isinglass and 4 tablespoons of thick cream.

  3. Sweeten to taste and stir over low heat for a few minutes without boiling.

Set and serve

  1. Pour into a damp basin and let it set in a cool place.

  2. Turn out onto a glass dish and serve with custard.

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. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  2. Rhubarb + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together297 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Rhubarb + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,852 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

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

What each ingredient does

Isinglass or gelatine
Sets the mixture into a firm, wobbly jelly as it cools.
Rhubarb
Supplies the main flavour and sharp acidity, and its pulp adds body.
Thick cream
Adds richness and a smooth, soft texture.
Sugar
Sweetens and balances the sharpness of the rhubarb.

The step that matters

Stir over low heat without boiling. Isinglass and gelatine lose setting strength when overheated or boiled, so the flummery may fail to firm up. Gentle heat dissolves the setting agent while keeping its gelling power intact.

Swap the rhubarb

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, sugar):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits about as well
  3. Rhubarbthe original
  4. Gingerfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, sugar. 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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