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Fifty Lunches

A chilled aspic of lemon, cloves, gelatine, cucumber, prawns, and aspic jelly, served with whipped cream and syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,734 recipes. Both carry 2-methylbutyl acetate, which smells fruit. The science ↓

Fifty Lunches

Ingredients

Directions

Make the aspic border

  1. Heat the lemon juice and powdered cloves until hot.

  2. Stir in the soaked gelatine until dissolved.

  3. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve when it is pulpy.

  4. Wet a border mold.

  5. Chill the wet mold in ice or a cold place.

  6. Pour the puree into the mold.

  7. Let the puree firm up.

  8. Turn out the mold.

  9. Fill the center of the mold with whipped cream.

  10. Pour syrup flavored with rum and lemon around the outside.

Prepare the filling

  1. Cut cucumbers into fillets.

  2. Cook the cucumber fillets until tender.

  3. Drain and cool the cucumber fillets.

  4. Cut the cooled cucumber fillets into quarter-inch squares.

  5. Shell the prawns and cut them into similar pieces.

  6. Mix the cucumber and prawn pieces.

Make the darioles

  1. Fill half a dozen darioles with the mixture.

  2. Melt the aspic jelly.

  3. Whisk in oil and vinegar over ice.

  4. Add the egg yolk to color the mixture.

  5. Pour the colored mixture into the darioles.

  6. Set the prawn and cucumber squares in the jelly over ice.

  7. Turn out the darioles when ready.

  8. Serve the darioles in a circle with cress or curled endive.

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. Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,734 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  2. Clove + cucumbertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,319 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Lemon + cucumbertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Lemon + clovetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,150 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Cream + syruptop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Gelatine
Sets the pulpy puree into a firm, sliceable border when chilled.
Whipped cream
Adds richness and a soft, light texture to the centre of the mold.
Prawns
Provide the main flavour and firm, tender bite in the filling.
Cucumbers
Add moisture and a mild, fresh body to the filling.
Aspic jelly
Forms the clear set that holds the darioles and filling together.
Oil
Adds fat and smoothness, giving the jelly a richer mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Whisk in oil and vinegar over ice.. The oil must blend evenly into the melted jelly while it is cold but still liquid. If the mixture warms or is rushed, the oil separates and the jelly may set greasy or unevenly.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, cream, syrup, rum, cucumber, vinegar, egg):

  1. Peppermintfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, cream, syrup, rum, cucumber, vinegar, 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.

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