Why it works: Lemon and white wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,832 recipes. Both carry myrcene, which smells balsamic, herbaceous. The science ↓
Calves' Feet Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the stock
Slit the calves' feet in two and wash them clean.
Place the feet in a pot and cover with water; boil for several hours until reduced to 2 quarts.
Strain the liquid through a sieve and let it cool.
Remove the fat and sediment from the cooled liquid.
Make the jelly
In a preserving kettle, melt the liquid slowly.
Add the lemon juice and grated rind.
Wash the egg whites and shells, beat them together, and mix with the jelly.
Sweeten to taste with loaf sugar and add the white wine or Madeira.
Boil slowly for 15 minutes, then strain through a jelly bag until clear.
If the jelly is not clear, strain it again.
If not sufficiently stiff, add the isinglass.
Flavor with spices if desired and color if preferred.
Chill and keep
Keep the jelly in a cool place or surrounded by 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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Lemon + white winetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,832 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
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Lemon + sugartop 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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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Sugar + white winetop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,586 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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
- Calves' feet
- Release gelatin into the water during long boiling, which sets the jelly.
- Egg whites and shells
- Bind with sediment as they cook, clarifying the jelly to a clear finish.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the sugar.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the jelly to taste.
- White wine or madeira
- Adds flavor and a little acidity to the jelly.
- Isinglass
- Adds extra gelatin to firm the jelly if it is not stiff enough.
The step that matters
Clarifying with egg whites. Egg whites are whisked into the warm liquid and then boiled, so proteins coagulate and trap cloudy particles. Straining through a jelly bag then gives a clear jelly. Boiling too vigorously or skipping the strain leaves it cloudy.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, white wine):
- Vanillafits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Applefits less well
- Plumfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, white wine. 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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