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Dessert

Raspberry Jam

A sweet preserve made from sugar, brandy, cream, and raspberries, set with isinglass.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Raspberry Jam

Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Raspberry Jam

Ingredients

Directions

Set the base

  1. Whisk together sugar and brandy until nearly cold.

  2. Pour the mixture into a well-oiled mold.

  3. Set the mold in a cool place until perfectly set.

Make the raspberry layer

  1. Mash fresh raspberries slightly.

  2. Sprinkle sugar over the raspberries to extract juice.

  3. Mix the extracted juice with cream.

  4. Add a few drops of prepared cochineal if the color is not satisfactory.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Brandy + raspberrytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together235 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-hex-3-en-1-ol (freshly cut grass green and herbaceous notes).

  3. Brandy + creamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,635 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  4. Cream + raspberrytop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,332 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

Isinglass
Gelling agent that sets the mixture as it cools into a firm, sliceable jelly.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and draws juice out of the raspberries when sprinkled over them.
Brandy
Adds alcoholic flavour and aroma to the set base.
Cream
Adds fat, richness and a smooth, soft texture to the raspberry juice.
Raspberries
Provide the main fruit flavour and juice for the dish.

The step that matters

Set the mold in a cool place until perfectly set. Isinglass sets as the mixture cools, so the base needs to be nearly cold before pouring and then left to chill fully. Pouring it while warm or rushing the chilling can leave the jelly soft and unable to hold its shape.

Swap the raspberry

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, brandy, cream):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Apricotfits about as well
  3. Strawberryfits about as well
  4. Raspberrythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, brandy, cream. 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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