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Dessert

Modern Jelly

A gelatinous dessert made from calf’s feet stock, sherry, sugar, lemon, egg whites, and isinglass.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Sherry and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,273 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Modern Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Make the jelly

  1. Mix the calf’s feet stock, sherry, powdered sugar, lemon juice, lemon rind, egg whites, and isinglass in a large saucepan.

  2. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes off the heat to dissolve the sugar.

  3. Gradually bring the mixture to a boil without stirring.

  4. Boil gently for 16 minutes, then remove from heat and let it stand briefly.

Clarify and set

  1. Pour the mixture into a jelly bag placed over a bowl to collect the liquid.

  2. Once clear and cool, pour the jelly into earthenware molds that have been soaked in water.

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. Sherry + lemontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,273 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  2. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  4. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Sherry + sugartop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,141 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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

Calf’s feet stock
Provides gelatin, which sets the liquid into a firm jelly as it cools.
Egg whites
Bind to impurities as they heat, helping clarify the stock into a clear jelly.
Isinglass
A fish-derived gelatin that adds extra setting strength to the jelly.
Powdered sugar
Adds sweetness and dissolves easily, balancing the sherry and lemon's acidity.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity and bright flavor that balances the sweetness of the sugar.

The step that matters

Gradually bring the mixture to a boil without stirring. Stirring as the mixture heats can break up the egg white raft and cloud the jelly. Heating slowly lets the whites rise and trap impurities, and boiling gently keeps the raft intact so the liquid can be filtered clear.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Pineapplefits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sherry, sugar, 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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