Name: Sauterne Jelly
Ingredients: 1½ cups Sauterne wine; sugar (to taste); gelatin (as per package instructions)

Why it works: Sugar and gelatin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,778 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Sauterne Jelly

Ingredients

1½ cups Sauterne wine
sugar (to taste)
gelatin (as per package instructions)

Directions

Prepare gelatin according to package instructions.
In a saucepan, heat Sauterne wine and add sugar to taste.
Combine the heated wine mixture with the prepared gelatin.
Pour into a mold and refrigerate until set.

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.

Sugar + gelatintop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,778 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Wine + gelatintop 30% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together176 recipes

Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).
Wine + sugartop 31% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together9,581 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Sauterne wine: Provides the main flavour and liquid that forms the jelly base.
Gelatin: Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable jelly as it cools.
Sugar: Sweetens the wine and balances its acidity to taste.

“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.