Name: Mulled Jelly
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon currant or grape jelly; 1 egg white; 1 teaspoon sugar; 1 cup boiling water; 1 slice dry toast or 2 crackers

Why it works: Egg and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Mulled Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

In a bowl, beat the jelly with the egg white and sugar until well combined.
Pour in the boiling water and stir.
Add the slice of toast or crackers to the mixture.

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.

Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Currant + eggtop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together8,734 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Currant + sugartop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together12,256 recipes

Currant and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,256 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

Currant or grape jelly: Provides sweetness and fruity flavour that carries the drink.
Egg white: Beaten into the mixture to add a light, frothy texture.
Dry toast or crackers: Soaks up the liquid and adds a toasty, grain-like flavour.