Why it works: Lemon and sherry 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 ↓
Calves' Feet Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the stock
Remove fat from between the claws of the calves' feet and wash them in lukewarm water.
Place the feet in a large stew-pan and cover with water.
Bring to a boil, skim the surface, and let it simmer gently for 6–7 hours until reduced to about 2 quarts.
Strain the liquid through a sieve and skim off any oily substance.
For best results, cool the liquid overnight and remove the oily layer with kitchen paper.
Make the jelly
Melt the strained liquid in a stew-pan with sugar, lemon peel, lemon juice, egg whites, and sherry or madeira.
Whisk until boiling, then simmer for 15 minutes.
Strain through a jelly bag, pouring the strained liquid back into the bag until clear.
Pour the jelly into molds and refrigerate until firm, adding ice if the weather is warm.
For a firmer jelly, add isinglass when adding the wine.
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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Lemon + sherrytop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,273 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + sherrytop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Calves' feet
- Their natural gelatin sets the liquid into a firm jelly as it cools.
- Egg whites
- As they heat, they coagulate and trap impurities, leaving the jelly clear.
- Lump sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps balance the sharpness of the lemon juice.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity and bright flavour that cuts through the richness of the stock.
- Sherry or madeira
- Adds aroma and depth of flavour to the finished jelly.
The step that matters
Strain through a jelly bag until clear. Egg whites must be boiled and filtered properly to collect impurities; rushing this step leaves the jelly cloudy rather than clear.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, sherry):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Pineapplefits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, sherry. 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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