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Dessert

Clear Jelly, Ornamented or Plain

A clear citrus jelly made with lemon, Seville orange, wine, brandy, isinglass, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Clear Jelly, Ornamented or Plain

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the stock

  1. Put the jelly stock into a saucepan.

  2. Add isinglass, cinnamon, cloves, and coriander seeds.

  3. Melt the mixture on the stove.

  4. Remove from heat.

Add the citrus and flavorings

  1. Peel 6 lemons and 6 Seville oranges very thinly.

  2. Rub sugar into 6 more lemons and 6 more Seville oranges.

  3. Squeeze all the lemons and oranges into a bowl with the peel and sugar.

  4. Add the Lisbon wine and brandy to the jelly stock.

Clarify and finish

  1. Break 18 eggs and discard 12 yolks.

  2. Beat the whites and remaining yolks together.

  3. Add the egg mixture to the jelly stock.

  4. Sweeten to taste.

  5. Heat the mixture while whisking until it boils.

  6. Let it boil for about 5 minutes.

  7. Cover the mixture.

  8. Place hot charcoal on top for 30 minutes.

  9. Strain the mixture through a jelly bag until clear.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Coriander + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,498 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Cinnamon + orangetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,437 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Cinnamon + coriandertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,635 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whites and yolks bind impurities that are then strained out, clarifying the jelly.
Isinglass
Gelatin-like setting agent that lets the stock firm into a jelly.
Seville oranges
Provide the bitter, acidic citrus flavour and aromatic peel oils.
Lemons
Add acidity and bright citrus flavour to balance the sugar.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps set and preserve the jelly.
Lisbon wine
Adds body and sweetness along with a rounded wine flavour.

The step that matters

Heating with the egg mixture while whisking. Whisking the egg into the hot stock keeps it from scrambling, and the proteins coagulate as it boils, trapping cloudy particles so straining yields a clear jelly.

Swap the coriander

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cinnamon, clove, lemon, orange, sugar, wine, brandy):

  1. Cardamomfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Corianderthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cinnamon, clove, lemon, orange, sugar, wine, 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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