Why it works: Meat and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 22% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,432 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Aspic Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Dissolve the gelatin in 2 cups of water.
Add 1 cup of meat gravy and spices to the dissolved gelatin.
Boil the mixture for a few minutes.
Clear the mixture by adding the whites of 2 eggs and stirring gently.
Strain the mixture into a mold and refrigerate until set.
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.
-
Meat + eggtop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,432 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Gelatine or isinglass
- Gels the liquid as it cools, giving the aspic its firm, sliceable set.
- Meat gravy
- Adds savoury meaty flavour and colour to the clear liquid.
- Whites of eggs
- Bind onto cloudy particles during gentle heating, which are then strained out to clarify the aspic.
The step that matters
Clear the mixture with egg whites. Stir gently. Vigorous stirring breaks up the egg white raft that traps cloudy particles, so the aspic stays murky instead of clear.
“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.
More aspic recipes
You might also like
Meat Croquettes52 recipes
Meatballs37 recipes
Mince Meat37 recipes
Meat Cakes35 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.