Why it works: Sherry and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,209 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Wine Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Soak the gelatine in the water until fully dissolved.
Add the sugar, lemon slices, sherry wine, brandy, and cinnamon.
Bring the mixture just to a boil.
Strain into molds and refrigerate until hardened.
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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Sherry + brandytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,209 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Wine + brandytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,427 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Lemon + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,157 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable jelly as it cools.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps give the jelly a smooth, tender body.
- Sherry wine
- Adds wine flavour and acidity that balances the sweetness.
- Lemons
- Contribute acidity and citrus aroma to the jelly.
The step that matters
Bringing the mixture just to a boil. Gelatine loses setting power if it is overheated or boiled hard, so the mixture should only reach a boil and then be strained and chilled promptly.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, sherry, wine, brandy, cinnamon):
- Vanillafits better
- Applefits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, sherry, wine, brandy, cinnamon. 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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