Why it works: Arrowroot and brandy work together. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 141 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Arrowroot Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
In a saucepan, bring 1 cup of water to a boil.
Stir in 2 heaping teaspoons of arrowroot until dissolved.
Add 2 heaping teaspoons of white sugar and mix well.
Remove from heat and stir in 1 tablespoon of brandy or 3 tablespoons of wine.
Let cool before serving.
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.
-
Arrowroot + brandytop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together141 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Arrowroot + sugartop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,073 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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
- Arrowroot
- Thickens the water into a clear, glossy jelly as it cooks.
- White sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the flavor of the jelly.
- Brandy or wine
- Adds aroma and flavor to the jelly.
The step that matters
Stir in the arrowroot until dissolved. Arrowroot must be fully dispersed in the liquid before or as it heats, otherwise it can form lumps and fail to thicken evenly into a smooth jelly.
Swap the arrowroot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, brandy):
- Sweet potatofits about as well
- Arrowrootthe original
- Beetrootfits less well
- Shallotfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against 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.
You might also like
Brandy Peaches68 recipes
Arrowroot Pudding46 recipes
Brandy Cream21 recipes
Brandy Pudding13 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.