Skip to main content
Dessert

Clear Jelly, Ornamented or Plain

A clear citrus jelly made with lemon, Seville orange, wine, brandy, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Clear Jelly, Ornamented or Plain

Ingredients

Directions

Melt the jelly-stock

  1. Put the jelly-stock into a saucepan.

  2. Add isinglass, cinnamon, cloves, and coriander seeds.

  3. Melt the jelly-stock on the stove.

  4. Remove from heat.

Prepare the fruit and wine

  1. Thinly peel and juice the lemons and Seville oranges.

  2. Rub sugar into the peeled and juiced fruit.

  3. Squeeze the juice into a bowl with the sugar.

  4. Add the Lisbon wine and brandy.

Combine and boil

  1. Combine this mixture with the melted jelly-stock.

  2. Beat the egg whites and remaining yolks together.

  3. Add the beaten eggs to the jelly-stock.

  4. Sweeten to taste.

  5. Heat on the stove, whisking until it boils.

  6. Let it boil for about five minutes.

Clarify and serve

  1. Cover and place hot charcoal on top for 30 minutes.

  2. Strain through a jelly bag until clear.

  3. Keep it warm to improve clarity.

  4. Decorate as desired.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Coriander + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,498 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Cinnamon + orangetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,437 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Cinnamon + coriandertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,635 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Isinglass
Sets the jelly by firming it as it cools.
Eggs
Egg whites trap cloudy particles as they heat, helping the jelly clear.
Lemons
Add sharp acidity that balances the sweetness.
Seville oranges
Add bitter acidity and aromatic citrus oil to the flavour.
Sugar
Sweetens the jelly and helps it set firmly.
Brandy
Adds warm aroma and flavour that remains after boiling.

The step that matters

Boiling the egg mixture. Egg whites coagulate as they heat, trapping cloudy particles that the jelly bag can then remove. Whisking until it boils and holding it for about five minutes gives the clearing action time to work. Stopping early or stirring too little can leave the jelly cloudy.

Swap the coriander

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cinnamon, clove, lemon, orange, sugar, wine, brandy):

  1. Cardamomfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Corianderthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cinnamon, clove, lemon, orange, sugar, wine, brandy. 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.

You might also like

Orange Bundt CakeOrange Bundt Cake349 recipesLemon CakeLemon Cake228 recipesLemon IceLemon Ice147 recipesOrange Cream Rice PuddingOrange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipes