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Dessert

Quince Jelly with Cream

A quince jelly thickened with isinglass, sweetened with sugar, mixed with cream, and set in a mold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cream 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 ↓

Quince Jelly with Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the jelly

  1. Dissolve the isinglass in the quince juice over a clear fire for 20 to 30 minutes until it jellies.

  2. Add the sugar and stir gently until combined.

  3. Remove any scum that forms on the surface.

Combine and set

  1. Prepare the mold by rubbing it with a small amount of salad oil or dipping it in cold water.

  2. Gradually pour the boiling jelly into the thick cream, stirring briskly until nearly cold.

  3. Pour the mixture into the mold.

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. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  2. Quince + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,444 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  3. Quince + creamtop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together203 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

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 quince juice into a firm jelly as it cools.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the tart flavour of the quince juice.
Thick cream
Adds richness and fat, giving the jelly a softer, creamier texture.
Quince juice
Provides the main liquid and the fruity, tart flavour of the jelly.

The step that matters

Pouring the boiling jelly into the cream. Pouring gradually while stirring briskly keeps the cream from curdling or separating in the hot liquid. Stopping once the mixture is nearly cold lets it thicken evenly before it sets in the mold.

Swap the quince

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cream. 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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