Why it works: White wine and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,832 recipes. Both carry myrcene, which smells balsamic, herbaceous. The science ↓
Dutch Flummery
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Boil isinglass in water very gently for 30 minutes.
Add white wine, lemon juice, lemon rind, and rub sugar on another lemon to obtain essence.
Mix in enough sugar to make it sweet.
Finish and set
Beat the egg yolks and add them to the mixture, stirring constantly.
Pour the mixture into a bowl and stir until half cold.
Let it settle, then pour it into a melon-shaped 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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White wine + lemontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,832 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
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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).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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White wine + sugartop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,586 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
- Isinglass
- Gelatin-like setting agent that firms the liquid into a sliceable jelly as it cools.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the mixture and add body and a creamy richness to the set dessert.
- White wine
- Adds liquid and acidity, giving the flummery a bright, fruity flavour.
- Lemon juice
- Provides sharp acidity that balances the sweetness and brightens the flavour.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the dessert and balances the sharpness of the lemon and wine.
The step that matters
Beat the egg yolks and add them to the mixture, stirring constantly.. Adding yolks to a hot or warm liquid can scramble them into lumps. Constant stirring disperses the yolks evenly so the mixture stays smooth and creamy.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (white wine, sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Applefits less well
- Plumfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against white wine, 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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