Why it works: Lemon and sherry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,273 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓
Lemon Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Thinly pare the rind of one lemon, avoiding the white part, and steep it in ½ cup boiling water for 30 minutes.
In an enamelled saucepan, combine the sugar, isinglass, and ½ cup water, then boil for 15 minutes.
Squeeze and strain the juice from the three lemons and strain the steeped water.
Make the jelly
Add the lemon juice and steeped water to the saucepan, bring to a boil, and skim well.
Finally, stir in the sherry.
Strain the mixture through a jelly bag, pour it into a cold, damp mold, and place it in a cool area 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 + sherrytop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,273 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + sherrytop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,141 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Isinglass
- Provides the gelatinous protein that sets the liquid into a firm jelly as it cools.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and adds body, helping it hold its set.
- Lemons
- Supply the juice and aromatic rind oil that give the jelly its sharp, bright flavour.
- Sherry
- Adds aroma and a subtle depth of flavour to the finished jelly.
The step that matters
Skim well after the mixture comes to a boil. Skimming removes foam and impurities that would otherwise cloud the jelly and leave specks in the set product, so the mixture must be cleared before the sherry is added.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, sherry):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Pineapplefits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, sherry. 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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