Why it works: Spinach and angelica share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Framboises En Gelee [Jellied Raspberries]
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prepare a pint of wine jelly and color it with carmine or spinach greening for a pale pink or pea-green tint.
Carefully pick and remove the stems from the raspberries, inserting thin strips of angelica in their place.
Mask the inside of a suitable mold with half-set jelly.
Layer and set
Layer the raspberries with alternate layers of jelly until the mold is filled, finishing with a layer of jelly on top.
Ensure each layer of jelly is firm before adding the next layer of fruit.
Once firm, dip the mold in lukewarm water for a moment, then wipe it with a cloth.
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.
-
Spinach + angelicatop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Wine + spinachtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together484 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
-
Wine + angelicatop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together52 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Wine jelly
- Sets into a firm, clear body that holds the raspberries in place and gives the dessert its structure.
- Raspberries
- Provide the main fruit flavor, color and soft texture within the set jelly.
- Liquid carmine or spinach greening
- Adds a pale pink or pea-green tint to the jelly for appearance only.
The step that matters
Ensure each layer of jelly is firm before adding the next layer of fruit. Jelly is a gel that sets as it cools. If fruit is added to a layer that is still liquid, the raspberries sink or float and the layers mix, so the molded pattern is lost.
Swap the angelica
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wine, spinach):
- Garlicfits better
- Thymefits better
- Rosemaryfits better
- Angelicathe original
Fit is the average pairing score against wine, spinach. 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.
You might also like
Spinach Cream9 recipes
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.