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Dessert

French Flummery

A sweet, gelatinous dessert made from isinglass, cream, sugar, rose water, and orange flower water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

French Flummery

Ingredients

Directions

Make the flummery

  1. Boil isinglass shavings in cream over low heat for 15 minutes, stirring constantly.

  2. Sweeten with loaf sugar, avoiding powdered sugar to prevent dust.

  3. Add rose water and orange flower water.

  4. Strain into a basin or mold.

Serve

  1. Serve with baked pears around it.

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. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Rose + orangetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together876 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,212 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + rosetop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,584 recipes

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

  5. Cream + orangetop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,170 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

Sugar and orange barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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 protein that sets the cream into a soft, wobbly jelly as it cools.
Cream
Provides richness and body, forming the base that the isinglass sets.
Loaf sugar
Sweetens the flummery, balancing the delicate floral flavours.
Rose water
Adds a delicate floral aroma to the cream.
Orange flower water
Adds a light citrus-floral aroma that complements the rose water.

The step that matters

Boil isinglass shavings in cream over low heat, stirring constantly. Isinglass must dissolve fully into the cream to set evenly. Low heat and constant stirring prevent scorching and sticking on the base of the pan, which would give a burnt taste and uneven texture.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, sugar, rose):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raspberryfits better
  3. Strawberryfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, sugar, rose. 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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