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 ↓
Lemon Jelly.
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Peel the lemons very thin and cut them in half.
Squeeze out the juice and strain it into a saucepan.
Make the jelly
Add the sugar, cinnamon, cloves, saffron, and egg whites with the shells to the pan.
Mix well with a fork or whisk.
Stir in the hot water and gelatin.
Place the saucepan on the stove and bring to a boil.
Pass the mixture through a warmed jelly bag until it runs clear.
If not clear, return it to the pan and repeat.
Let the jelly cool slightly, then add 1-2 wineglasses of liqueur syrup.
Set and serve
Pour into molds and refrigerate until set.
To unmold, dip the mold quickly in warm water.
Place a clean cloth on the bottom to absorb excess water.
Turn out the jelly onto a serving dish.
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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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Lemon + saffrontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together538 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Gelatin + syruptop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together192 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Cinnamon + saffrontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together406 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Clove + saffrontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together455 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lemons
- Provide the juice that gives the jelly its tart, bright flavour.
- Egg whites
- Bind with impurities during boiling so they can be strained out, clearing the jelly.
- Gelatin
- Sets the liquid into a firm jelly as it cools.
- Lump sugar
- Adds sweetness and body to the jelly.
The step that matters
Passing the mixture through the jelly bag. Egg whites coagulate with impurities as the liquid boils, and straining through a warmed bag catches them. Rushing this step or skipping the re-straining leaves the jelly cloudy.
Swap the saffron
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, sugar, cinnamon, clove, egg, gelatin, syrup):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Gingerfits better
- Saffronthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, sugar, cinnamon, clove, egg, gelatin, syrup. 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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