Why it works: Brandy and sherry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,209 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Wine Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Make the jelly
Peel the lemons very thinly and place them in a pan with gelatin, water, and sugar.
Stir over the heat until the gelatin is dissolved.
Add the lemon juice, sherry, and whisked egg whites, stirring well into the mixture.
Allow the mixture to boil for 5 to 10 minutes.
Strain the mixture through a jelly bag rinsed in boiling water two or three times until clear.
Add the brandy.
Set and unmould
When cool, pour the mixture into a mould rinsed with cold water.
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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Brandy + sherrytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,209 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Sherry + lemontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,273 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Brandy + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,340 recipes
Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable jelly as it cools.
- Egg whites
- Bind to impurities as they heat, so the strained liquid becomes clear.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and balances the acidity of the lemon and sherry.
- Sherry
- Adds the main wine flavour and some acidity to the jelly.
- Lemons
- Provide aroma from the peel and acidity from the juice.
The step that matters
Strain until clear. Egg whites must be heated so they capture cloudy particles, then the mixture needs straining through a hot-rinsed jelly bag, repeated as needed, so the jelly is clear rather than cloudy.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (brandy, sherry, sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Apricotfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against brandy, sherry, sugar, egg. 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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