Why it works: Parsley and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Meat Jellies
Ingredients
Directions
Make the meat jelly
Put two ounces of gelatin in a saucepan with three eggs and shells, a tablespoonful of salt, the rind of half a lemon, and a liquor glass of rum or brandy, or a wine glass of sherry, port, or Madeira wine; mix well.
Add one quart of broth and twelve peppercorns; beat the mixture well with an egg-beater and set on a good fire.
Stir gently until it comes to a boil; then move it to a rather slow fire and boil slowly for about eight minutes.
Have two bowls at hand to be used alternately; have one under the bag before turning the jelly into it.
Turn the mixture into the jelly bag.
When it has passed through the bag once, turn it into the bag again, putting the other bowl under; repeat this three or four times, and it will be perfectly clear.
Just before turning into the bag the first time, add a few drops of burnt sugar to give the jelly an amber color.
Use the jelly immediately if wanted in liquid form, as to fill a meat pie, etc., or put it on ice to congeal.
Other jellies
For boned turkey jelly, as soon as the water in which you have boiled a boned turkey is cold, skim off the fat and strain it.
Then proceed exactly as for meat jelly, except that you take one quart of the above instead of one quart of beef broth.
For boned chicken jelly, prepare the water in which the boned chicken has been cooked, the same as above; take a quart of it and proceed as for meat jelly for the rest.
For jelly to decorate any boned bird, the water in which it has been cooked may be used, as described above.
Calves' feet jelly
For calves' feet jelly, scald well four calves' feet and split each in two lengthwise.
Put the feet in a saucepan with about three pints of water, two onions, two cloves, two cloves of garlic, six sprigs of parsley, one of thyme, a stalk of celery if handy, salt, and half a dozen peppercorns.
Set on the fire and boil gently until well cooked.
Serve the feet with a poulette or vinaigrette.
Strain the liquor; put in it two eggs with their shells, salt, rum or wine, as in meat jelly; beat the whole well with an egg-beater; set on a good fire, and finish like meat jelly.
For calf's-head jelly, proceed as for the above in every particular, except that you use four eggs, having about twice as much liquor, therefore making twice as much jelly.
A little gelatin may be added if not found firm enough.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 9 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Beef | 100g cooked | 250 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Onion | 1 medium (110g) | 44 |
| Clove | 1 tsp ground (2g) | 7 |
| Celery | 1 stalk (40g) | 6 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Garlic | 1 clove (3g) | 4 |
| Parsley | 1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g) | 1 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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.
-
Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,810 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Garlic + parsleytop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,308 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
-
Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Gelatin
- Sets the broth into a firm, sliceable jelly as it cools.
- Eggs
- Their whites collect cloudy particles as the mixture boils, clarifying the jelly.
- Broth
- Provides the savory meat flavor and most of the liquid that becomes the jelly.
- Calves' feet
- Release natural gelatin and body into the cooking water, helping the jelly set.
The step that matters
Boiling and straining the clarifying mixture. Stirring gently until it boils, then simmering slowly, lets the egg whites gather impurities into a raft. Boiling hard or stirring after that breaks the raft and leaves the jelly cloudy, so repeated passes through the bag are needed to clear it.
Swap the garlic
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, clove, parsley, celery, egg, pepper, corn):
- Tarragonfits better
- Marjoramfits better
- Thymefits better
- Garlicthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, clove, parsley, celery, egg, pepper, corn. 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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