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Dessert

Jajmange, or Jaune Manger, Sometimes Called Dutch Flummery

A lemon-flavored, egg yolk and sherry flummery thickened with isinglass.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Sherry and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,209 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Jajmange, or Jaune Manger, Sometimes Called Dutch Flummery

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. In a saucepan, combine the lemon rind, sugar, and water. Stir over gentle heat for 3-4 minutes.

  2. Remove from heat and let the syrup infuse for 10-15 minutes.

Make the flummery

  1. Add the isinglass and stir until dissolved.

  2. Mix in the strained lemon juice and sherry, then add the beaten egg yolks.

  3. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve.

  4. Thicken in a jar or jug placed in boiling water.

  5. Pour into a bowl and let cool for a few minutes.

  6. Transfer to water-filled molds and refrigerate until set.

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 + brandytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,209 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Lemon + sherrytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,273 recipes

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

  3. Egg + brandytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).

  4. Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

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

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

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

Lemon and sugar 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

Isinglass
Gelatin-like protein that sets the mixture into a firm, wobbly jelly when chilled.
Egg yolks
Add richness and body, and help thicken the custard-like mixture as it heats.
Sugar
Sweetens the syrup and balances the sharpness of the lemon juice and sherry.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity and bright flavour that cuts through the sweetness and richness.
Sherry
Contributes aroma and a rounded, fortified wine flavour to the jelly.

The step that matters

Thicken in a jar or jug placed in boiling water. Egg yolks can curdle or scramble if overheated, so gentle indirect heat from boiling water thickens the mixture evenly without grainy curds. Keeping it in a water bath controls the temperature.

Swap the lemon

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, sherry, egg, brandy. 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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