Why it works: Pistachio and angelica share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 36 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓
Pains De Praises {Little Strawberry Moulds}
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the moulds
Dissolve some of the jelly.
Pick about a dozen of the best strawberries.
Mask fancy dariole moulds with jelly.
Garnish the bottom with pistachios and angelica leaves.
Coat with half-set jelly.
Put on ice to firm.
Make the strawberry mousse
Beat the eggs.
Crush the remaining strawberries in a basin with a wooden spoon.
Pass through a fine sieve.
Make ½ cup of syrup with the loaf sugar.
Combine the syrup with the fruit pulp, eggs, and curaçao in a copper bowl.
Whisk over a saucepan of boiling water until the mixture binds.
Beat a little longer over crushed ice.
Add the whole strawberries.
When sufficiently cool, fill the moulds.
Leave on ice until set.
Turn out and serve
Immerse the moulds in tepid water.
Turn out neatly on a dish.
Garnish with chopped wine jelly.
Serve.
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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Pistachio + angelicatop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together36 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Sugar + pistachiotop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,233 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Wine + angelicatop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together52 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
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Sugar + angelicatop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together487 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Whisked over heat, they bind the strawberry mixture so it sets into a soft, sliceable mould.
- Wine jelly
- Sets into a clear, firm coating that holds the moulds together and gives a glossy finish.
- Strawberries
- Provide the main flavour, colour and body of the mousse through their pulp and whole fruit.
- Loaf sugar
- Made into a syrup that sweetens the mixture and balances the fruit's acidity.
- Curaçao liqueur
- Adds a citrus aroma and flavour that complements the strawberries.
The step that matters
Whisking over boiling water until the mixture binds. Gentle heat lets the egg proteins thicken the mixture without scrambling. Overheating curdles the eggs, while underheating leaves the mousse too loose to set firmly in the moulds.
Swap the pistachio
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wine, egg, sugar, angelica):
- Almondfits about as well
- Pistachiothe original
- Chestnutfits about as well
- Walnutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against wine, egg, sugar, angelica. 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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