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
Prepare the gelatine
Soak the gelatine in enough water to cover for 1 hour.
Add the lemon juice and grated rind.
Make the jelly
Stir in 2 pints of boiling water, sherry, and powdered sugar.
Add a little brandy or whiskey.
Strain the mixture into molds.
Set
Place the molds in a cool place to set.
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 + sherrytop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,273 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sherry + sugartop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,141 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Its proteins form a gel network that sets the liquid into a firm jelly.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and body, and helps give the jelly a smooth, soft texture.
- Sherry
- Provides the wine flavour and some acidity to the jelly.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the sweetness.
The step that matters
Soak the gelatine fully before dissolving. Gelatine must hydrate in cold water before heating so the granules swell and dissolve evenly. Undissolved or clumped gelatine leaves grainy spots and weak set in the finished jelly.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sherry, sugar, brandy):
- Vanillafits better
- Apricotfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sherry, sugar, 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.
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