Why it works: Red currant and cream work together. They rank in the top 30% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 247 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓
Mock Ice
Ingredients
Directions
Make the mixture
Rub the preserved strawberries, raspberries, and red currant jelly through a sieve.
Add enough cream to fill a shape and mix well.
Dissolve the isinglass in the water.
When the mixture is almost cold, combine it with the cream mixture.
Set and serve
Pour into a shape and set it in a cool place.
Turn it out the following day.
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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Red currant + creamtop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together247 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Preserved strawberries
- Adds fruit flavour and a pink colour to the mixture.
- Preserved raspberries
- Adds fruity flavour and deepens the colour of the mixture.
- Red currant jelly
- Adds sweetness, tartness and colour to the fruit base.
- Cream
- Provides fat for a rich, smooth texture that holds its shape when set.
- Isinglass
- Acts as a setting agent, gelling the mixture as it cools so it can be turned out.
The step that matters
Combine when the mixture is almost cold. If the fruit mixture is still warm, it can thin the cream and weaken the set. If it is too cold, the isinglass may begin to firm before mixing, leaving lumps and an uneven texture.
“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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