Why it works: Sugar and madeira wine work together. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 343 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Madeira Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Make the jelly base
Soak the gelatine in the water.
Boil until dissolved.
Add the sugar and stir until melted.
Strain the mixture and add the Madeira wine.
Whip and set
Let the jelly cool, then whip until thick and frothy.
Pour into a mold and refrigerate until firm.
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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Sugar + madeira winetop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together343 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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 and chills.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the wine's flavour.
- Madeira wine
- Gives the jelly its characteristic aroma and flavour.
The step that matters
Whipping the jelly as it cools. Gelatine begins to thicken as the mixture cools. Whipping before it becomes too thick traps air in a light, frothy texture, while whipping after it has set firmly will not give the same result.
“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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