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Aspic Jelly

Aspic jelly is a gelatinous meat stock made from beef, veal, and calves' feet simmered with vegetables and herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Aspic Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Break the beef, calves' feet, and veal into small pieces and wash them well.

  2. Place the meat in a large pot with the carrots, onions, parsley, and water.

Simmer

  1. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the liquid is reduced by half, skimming off fat as needed.

  2. Remove from heat and let it sit for a few minutes.

Strain and clarify

  1. Strain the mixture first through a colander and then through a clean cloth or rubber.

  2. Let the strained liquid cool, then remove any fat and grease.

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

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

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

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

  3. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  4. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  5. Beef + carrottop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,606 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Shin of beef
Breaks down into rich meat flavor and body in the simmered liquid.
Calves' feet
Release gelatin into the liquid, giving the finished aspic its setting power.
Knuckle of veal
Adds collagen and savory depth that gelatin-rich stock needs to set firmly.
Onions
Contribute savory sweetness and aroma to the broth as they simmer.
Carrots
Add gentle sweetness and aroma that balance the savory meat flavor.

The step that matters

Simmering until reduced by half. Keeping the liquid at a gentle simmer, with fat skimmed off, produces a clear, concentrated broth. Boiling hard emulsifies fat and clouds the liquid, and too little reduction leaves it too weak to set.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, veal, carrot, parsley):

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Turnipfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, veal, carrot, parsley. 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.

More aspic recipes

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