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 ↓
Lemon Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the gelatine in cold water for about 10 minutes.
Combine all prepared ingredients in a saucepan over low heat.
Make the jelly
Whisk until it begins to boil, then allow to boil without stirring.
Simmer for another 10 minutes or more.
Strain through a clean, scalded cloth until clear.
Return through the cloth until clear, using a basin rinsed with hot water underneath.
Set and serve
Once clear, pour into a mould wetted with cold water and let stand until firm.
For best results, set the jelly in ice.
To serve, dip the mould in hot water for a moment and turn out quickly onto a cold dish.
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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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Lemon + clovetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,150 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a firm jelly as it cools.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity and bright flavour to the jelly.
- Loaf sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the sourness of the lemon.
- Egg white
- Binds fine particles so the cloth strains the liquid clear.
The step that matters
Return through the cloth until clear. Straining clarifies the liquid by trapping cloudy particles. Rushing this or skipping the re-strain leaves the jelly cloudy, and the cloth must be scalded and clean so no residue or off flavours carry into the set jelly.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cinnamon, clove, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cinnamon, clove, 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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