Why it works: Rhubarb and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,852 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Rhubarb Isinglass Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the rhubarb
Wash and slice the rhubarb without peeling, removing any coarse or discolored parts.
In an enamelled stewpan, combine the rhubarb and water. Add 2 ounces of sugar.
Boil gently for 20 minutes until the rhubarb is stewed but not thickened.
Strain the mixture through a muslin cloth folded in four, measuring 1 ½ pints of juice.
Make the jelly
In a clean pan, heat the juice and add 1 ½ ounces of isinglass and 6 ounces of sugar.
Stir until the isinglass is completely dissolved, then boil quickly for a few minutes to remove scum.
Carefully clear off the scum and strain the jelly twice through the muslin cloth.
Let it cool and then mold it as desired.
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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Rhubarb + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,852 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rhubarb
- Provides the tart flavour and pink colour, and its pectin helps the juice set lightly.
- Isinglass
- Fish-derived gelatine that sets the strained juice into a firm, tremble-free jelly.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the tart rhubarb juice and helps give the jelly a clear, glossy body.
The step that matters
Boil quickly to remove scum, then clear the scum off. Scum left in the liquid makes the jelly cloudy and can spoil its clarity, so it must be skimmed off before the final straining and setting.
“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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