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Savoury, or Aspic Jelly

A savory aspic jelly made from carrots, celery, herbs, vinegar, stock, eggs, and gelatin.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Tarragon and chervil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 824 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Savoury, or Aspic Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Tie thyme and parsley into a bouquet.

  2. Place carrots, celery, and bouquet in a stewpan.

  3. Boil gently for 6 hours.

  4. Strain through a soup cloth, skimming off any fat.

  5. Prepare the stock a day in advance and refrigerate.

Make the aspic

  1. Bring the stock and reserved calf's-foot stock to the fire.

  2. Wash them clean of grease.

  3. Melt both stocks together.

  4. Test firmness by placing a little on ice.

  5. If not firm, add more calf's-foot stock or gelatin.

  6. Add tarragon vinegar, green tarragon, chervil, peppercorns, mace, and salt to the melted stock.

  7. In a bowl, beat the eggs well. Add 1 pint of warm stock and whisk together.

  8. Combine with the stock on the fire, including the eggshells.

  9. Bring to a slow boil on a hot plate to prevent burning.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Tarragon + cherviltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together824 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Thyme + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together528 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Egg whites bind to impurities and clarify the stock as they cook.
Calf's-foot stock or gelatine
Gelatin sets the liquid into a firm jelly when chilled.
Carrots
Slow boiling draws out their flavour and colour into the stock.
Tarragon vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the savory jelly.

The step that matters

Bring to a slow boil. Boiling too fast or on too hot a surface can scorch the stock and cloud it. Egg whites need gentle heat to rise and form a raft that clarifies the liquid.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, celery, thyme, parsley, tarragon, vinegar, chervil):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Fennelfits better
  3. Dillfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, celery, thyme, parsley, tarragon, vinegar, chervil. 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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