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Hartshorn Jelly

A gelatin made from hartshorn shavings, water, wine, sugar, lemon, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Hartshorn Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the liquid

  1. Boil hartshorn shavings in water until reduced to 3 pints.

  2. Strain the mixture and let it cool.

Make the jelly

  1. Add white wine, loaf sugar, and lemon peel.

  2. Heat the mixture, stirring until the jelly melts.

  3. Pour in the strained lemon juice and beaten egg whites.

  4. Stir and boil quickly for a few minutes.

  5. Pour into a jelly bag and let it run 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. White wine + lemontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,832 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  2. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  4. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. White wine + sugartop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,586 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Sugar and lemon 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

Hartshorn shavings
Provide the gelatin that sets the liquid into a firm jelly when cooled.
Whites of eggs
Coagulate when boiled, collecting impurities so the jelly can be strained clear.
Loaf sugar
Sweetens the jelly and adds body to the set liquid.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity and bright flavor that balances the sweetness.

The step that matters

Pour into a jelly bag and let it run until clear. Egg whites must be boiled to coagulate and trap cloudy particles, then the jelly must drip slowly without squeezing. Pressing the bag forces cloudiness through, leaving the jelly murky rather than clear.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (white wine, sugar, egg):

  1. Vanillafits about as well
  2. Lemonthe original
  3. Applefits less well
  4. 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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