Why it works: Lemon and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,950 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Wine Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Make the jelly
Soak the gelatine in cold water for 15 minutes.
Add boiling water and stir until dissolved.
Mix in sugar, Madeira wine, lemon juice, and cinnamon if using.
Finish
Strain through a coarse cloth before serving.
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 + cinnamontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + madeira winetop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together343 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Madeira wine + cinnamontop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together93 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a firm, wobbly jelly as it cools.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps give the jelly its body.
- Madeira wine
- Adds flavour and aroma, along with some liquid to the jelly.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness and flavour of the jelly.
The step that matters
Dissolving the gelatine fully. Gelatine must be soaked, then dissolved in hot liquid, or it will not set evenly. Undissolved granules can leave the jelly weak or grainy in places.
Swap the cinnamon
The recipe marks cinnamon as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, madeira wine, lemon):
- Cinnamonthe original
- Thymefits about as well
- Marjoramfits about as well
- Nutmegfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, madeira wine, lemon. 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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