Why it works: Sugar and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,168 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Jelly Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Melt the sugar and jelly in boiling water.
Dissolve corn starch in cold water and stir into the mixture.
Bring to a boil; it is ready to use.
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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Sugar + corntop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,168 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the sauce taste balanced.
- Jelly
- Adds sweetness and fruit flavor to the sauce.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the sauce as it heats and gelatinizes in the liquid.
The step that matters
Bring to a boil. Corn starch only thickens fully once the mixture reaches a boil, when its granules swell and gelatinize. Stopping early leaves the sauce thin and cloudy, while stirring it in smoothly keeps lumps from forming.
“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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