Why it works: Brandy and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,939 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Jelly of Grape
Ingredients
Directions
Make the jelly
Prepare 1 quart of firm calf's foot jelly.
When melted, add 6 liqueur glasses of maraschino and 2 liqueur glasses of brandy.
Dissolve 1½ ounces of isinglass in 1 pint of water.
Mix in the juice of 3 limes and ½ pound of sugar.
Strain through a jelly bag.
Add 2 more liqueur glasses of water with the maraschino and brandy.
Set and chill
When partly cold, pour into your mold and set it in ice.
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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Brandy + sugartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Brandy + limetop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together165 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
-
Lime + sugartop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,332 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Brandy and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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 foot jelly
- Provides the gelling base that gives the finished jelly its firm set.
- Isinglass
- Adds extra gelling strength so the jelly holds its shape when unmolded.
- Lime juice
- Adds sharp acidity that balances the sweetness of the sugar and liqueurs.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and balances the tartness of the lime juice.
- Maraschino
- Contributes its cherry-almond aroma and sweetness to the jelly.
The step that matters
When partly cold, pour into your mold. Pouring too hot can melt the set or let the liquid run out of shape, while waiting too long lets it thicken unevenly. Partly cooled liquid sets smoothly and evenly in the mold.
Swap the lime
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (brandy, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Apricotfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Limethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against brandy, sugar. 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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