Skip to main content
Main

Savoury Jelly for Cold Meat

A gelatinous sauce made from veal, ham, and aromatics, set with isinglass and egg whites for serving cold meat.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Carrot and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21,601 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Savoury Jelly for Cold Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the stock

  1. Spread veal and ham in a stewpan with carrot, herbs, and onions.

  2. Cover and sweat on low heat until deep brown.

  3. Pour in broth or water and bring to a boil.

  4. Skim well, then add peppercorns, mace, isinglass, and salt.

  5. Simmer slowly for 2 hours, skimming fat off.

  6. Strain through a fine cloth.

Clarify and serve

  1. Cool, then stir in beaten egg whites or shells.

  2. Return to heat and whisk until boiling.

  3. Simmer for 10 minutes, then strain again until clear.

  4. Pour over meat or fowl before serving.

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. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Carrot + macetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Veal + carrottop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,264 recipes

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

  5. Onion + macetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,078 recipes

    Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal
Gives the jelly its meaty body and rich flavor as it cooks down.
Ham
Adds savory depth and salty, smoky flavor to the stock.
Isinglass
Gelatin-like protein that sets the cooled broth into a firm jelly.
Egg whites or shells
Bind to impurities as they boil, so straining leaves a clear jelly.
Onions
Add aromatic sweetness and color to the stock as they brown.

The step that matters

Clarifying with egg whites. Once the whites are whisked in and the liquid is brought to a boil, they coagulate and trap cloudy particles. Boiling too vigorously or stirring afterward breaks up the raft, leaving the jelly murky instead of clear.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, ham, carrot, onion, egg):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Celeryfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, ham, carrot, onion, egg. 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.

You might also like

Carrot SoupCarrot Soup134 recipesVeal PattiesVeal Patties50 recipesBeef, Mutton, or Veal BrothBeef, Mutton, or Veal Broth6 recipesTomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipes