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 ↓
Lemon Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mixture
Put the gelatine in a copper or enamelled pan with the water, sugar, cloves, and cinnamon.
Grate the rind of three lemons.
Strain the juice of four lemons.
Add the grated rind and strained juice to the gelatine mixture.
Wash the eggs.
Beat the whites and shells with 2 tablespoons of cold water.
Add the beaten egg whites and shells to the melted gelatine.
Clarify and cook
Gently whisk the mixture over the fire until the gelatine melts.
Whisk until the mixture begins to boil.
Remove the whisk and let the mixture simmer for ten minutes.
Remove from heat and let it stand for ten minutes.
If using a cloth, pour boiling water through it before straining the jelly.
Strain the jelly through a tammis-cloth into a basin.
Mould and set
Dip a jelly-mould in cold water.
Drain the mould.
Pour the jelly into the mould.
Let the jelly set in a cool place.
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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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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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 + clovetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,150 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
What each ingredient does
- French gelatine
- Provides the gel structure that lets the jelly set firm when cooled.
- Egg whites and shells
- Bind fine particles and clarify the jelly, leaving it clear when strained.
- Lemons
- Supply acidity and aroma from the rind and juice, balancing the sugar.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and helps give it body as it sets.
The step that matters
Strain after the egg whites have settled the mixture. The egg whites coagulate as the liquid heats and trap cloudy particles. Straining too early, or before the clarified mixture has stood, leaves the jelly cloudy rather than clear.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, cinnamon, clove):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, cinnamon, clove. 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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