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 ↓
Very Superior Whipped Syllabubs
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the base
Weigh the sugar and rasp the lemon rinds into it.
Pound or roll the mixture to a powder and place it in a bowl.
Add the strained lemon juice, sherry, and brandy to the bowl.
Whisk and serve
Once the sugar is nearly dissolved, add the cream and whisk the mixture well.
Remove the froth as it rises and pour the mixture into glasses.
For best flavor, prepare the syllabubs 24 hours in advance.
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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Sherry + brandytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,209 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Brandy + creamtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,635 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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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).
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
- Cream
- Whisked into the mixture, it thickens and holds the airy structure of the syllabub.
- Fine sugar
- Sweetens the dish and helps draw oils from the lemon rind when rasped into it.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that balances the sweetness and cuts the richness of the cream.
- Sherry
- Adds liquid and a fortified wine flavor that complements the lemon.
- Brandy
- Adds liquid and warming aroma to the mixture.
The step that matters
Whisk the mixture well after adding the cream. Whisking incorporates air into the cream so it foams and thickens. Under-whisking leaves a thin liquid, while over-whisking can turn the cream grainy or split it, so the cook must watch the texture closely.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, sherry, brandy, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Apricotfits better
- Strawberryfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, sherry, brandy, cream. 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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