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Dessert

Jelly

A citrus jelly made with lemon and Seville orange peel, sherry wine, brandy, eggs, and isinglass.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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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 ↓

Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the stock

  1. Clean the fat from the jelly stock and wipe it with a cloth.

  2. In a stew pan, combine the jelly stock, isinglass, cinnamon, cloves, and coriander seeds.

  3. Heat the mixture just until the isinglass melts, then remove from heat.

Add the citrus and wine

  1. Peel the lemons and Seville oranges thinly and rub sugar into the peels.

  2. Squeeze the juice from all the lemons and oranges into a bowl with the peels and sugar.

  3. Add the sherry wine and brandy to the bowl and mix into the jelly stock.

  4. Beat the eggs, including whites, yolks, and shells, together and add to the jelly stock.

  5. Sweeten the mixture with sugar to taste.

Clarify and finish

  1. Place the mixture on a stove and stir continuously until it reaches a boil.

  2. Remove from heat and let it sit for a few minutes.

  3. Cover the mixture with a cloth and lit charcoal for about an hour.

  4. Strain the jelly through a fine sieve into a quart of cream while whisking it in.

  5. Warm about a pint of raspberry jelly and mix it in.

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.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Coriander + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,498 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Cinnamon + orangetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,437 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Cinnamon + coriandertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,635 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Isinglass
Sets the jelly as it cools, giving it a firm, clear body.
Eggs
Their whites bind impurities that rise and clarify the liquid when heated.
Sherry wine
Adds acidity and aroma that define the jelly's flavor.
Lemons
Provide acidity and bright citrus flavor, with juice and peel both used.
Seville oranges
Add bitter-sharp citrus aroma and flavor from the juice and peel.
Sugar
Sweetens the jelly and balances the acidity of the citrus and wine.

The step that matters

Heating the mixture until it boils. Stirring constantly prevents the isinglass and egg from scorching on the base of the pan. Once the egg whites set, they should be left undisturbed so impurities collect for straining, keeping the jelly clear.

Swap the coriander

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cinnamon, clove, lemon, orange, sugar, sherry, wine):

  1. Cardamomfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. Corianderthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cinnamon, clove, lemon, orange, sugar, sherry, wine. 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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