Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Orange Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Rub the sugar on the outside of 3 oranges.
Squeeze the juice of the 6 oranges and 2 lemons into a basin and strain.
Add the sugar and 1 pint of water to the juice.
Bring the mixture to a boil.
Set and serve
Thicken with corn-flour, using 1 tablespoon for every pint of liquid.
Pour the hot mixture into a mould or plain white basin.
When cold, turn it out onto ornamental paper in a dish.
Surround the base with thin slices of orange cut into quarters.
Place the small end of an orange on top with green angelica leaves.
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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Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,634 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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
- Lump sugar
- Adds sweetness and, once dissolved in the juice, helps give the jelly its body.
- Corn-flour (in the method)
- Thickens the liquid so it sets into a firm jelly when cold.
- Oranges
- Supply the main juice and flavour of the jelly.
- Lemons
- Add acidity that brightens the orange flavour.
The step that matters
Thicken with corn-flour. Corn-flour must be stirred into the hot liquid in the right amount, about 1 tablespoon per pint. Too little leaves the jelly soft and too much makes it stiff and pasty. Starch thickens as it heats and sets as it cools.
“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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