Why it works: Sherry and brandy 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 ↓
Lemon Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the lemon liquor
Soak the gelatine and sugar in ½ cup of cold water.
Put the yellow rind of 3 lemons in 1 cup of boiling water.
Let it simmer for about 30 minutes.
Make the jelly
Gradually heat the gelatine with the sugar and water until dissolved, but do not let it boil.
Add the strained juice of 6 lemons and the water from the lemon rind, bringing it all just to boiling point.
Skim and strain well.
Add the strained liquor.
Stir until nearly set, then pour into a wet china mold.
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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Sherry + brandytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,209 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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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 + brandytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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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
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a firm, wobbly jelly as it cools.
- Lemons
- Provide the acidic juice and aromatic rind that flavour the jelly.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and balances the sharpness of the lemon juice.
- Sherry
- Adds a rich, aromatic flavour to the finished jelly.
- Brandy
- Adds aromatic depth and flavour to the finished jelly.
The step that matters
Do not let the gelatine boil. Gelatine is heated only until dissolved; boiling weakens its setting power and can leave the jelly less firm.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, sherry, brandy):
- Vanillafits better
- Apricotfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, sherry, brandy. 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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