Why it works: Port wine and white wine share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 55 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓
Strengthening Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Combine all ingredients in a jar and seal it tightly.
Place the jar in a saucepan of warm water.
Stir constantly until all ingredients are dissolved.
Allow to cool; it will set into a firm jelly.
Serve a piece the size of a nutmeg to the invalid.
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.
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Port wine + white winetop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together55 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
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Port wine + nutmegtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together462 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Nutmeg + white winetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,659 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
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Nutmeg + sugartop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together23,364 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Port wine + sugartop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together805 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Nutmeg and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 23,364 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
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (port wine, white wine, sugar):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Clovefits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Marjoramfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against port wine, white wine, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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