Why it works: Lemon and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,950 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Wine Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Dissolve the gelatine in 1 pint of cold water for 30 minutes.
Pour 1 quart of boiling water over the dissolved gelatine.
Add the grated rind and juice of the lemons, sherry wine, and ground cinnamon.
Stir well and pour into a mold 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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Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Lemon + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,157 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Wine + cinnamontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,170 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
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Sherry + cinnamontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together649 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).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable jelly as it cools.
- Sherry wine
- Adds its own flavour and a mild acidity that balances the sweetness.
- Lemon juice
- Adds bright acidity that sharpens the flavour of the jelly.
The step that matters
Pour the boiling water over the dissolved gelatine. Gelatine must be fully dissolved before the liquid is poured into the mold. Undissolved granules leave gritty spots and weak patches, so the jelly may not set evenly.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sherry, wine, cinnamon):
- Applefits better
- Plumfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sherry, wine, cinnamon. 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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