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 ↓
Cranberry Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Stew the cranberries in a jar with their weight in sugar until softened.
Press and strain the juice into a pot.
Thicken and set
If using isinglass, add half its quantity to the juice and boil together.
If using ground rice, gradually mix in enough to thicken the juice to a jelly consistency.
Boil gently until thick, then pour into a mold without straining.
Serve
Serve with cream or custard.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Rice + creamtop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,399 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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Sugar + ricetop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,744 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fresh cranberries
- Provide the tart fruit flavour and the pectin-rich juice that forms the base of the jelly.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the tart juice and helps the jelly set firm and hold its shape.
- Isinglass jelly
- Gelling agent that sets the cooled juice into a firm, sliceable jelly.
- Ground rice
- Thickening agent that stiffens the juice as it boils, giving the jelly body.
The step that matters
Boil gently until thick, then pour without straining. Gentle boiling thickens the juice without scorching the sugar, and pouring it unstrained keeps the mold full of tender cranberry pulp. Too much heat can break down the setting agent and leave the jelly soft.
“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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