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Chicken in Aspic

A chilled chicken dish set in gelatinous stock.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Chicken in Aspic

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Cover all ingredients except the gelatine and egg whites with water and boil slowly until the chicken easily leaves the bones.

  2. Remove from heat and allow the chicken and stock to cool.

  3. Strain the stock and measure it; add water if necessary to make 3 pints.

  4. Separate the chicken into small pieces.

Clarify and set

  1. Dissolve the gelatine according to the package instructions.

  2. Put the stock on the fire.

  3. While the stock is still cold, add the slightly beaten egg whites.

  4. Allow the mixture to boil for 2 minutes.

  5. Add the dissolved gelatine and boil for 1 minute.

  6. Strain the mixture through muslin into a mould.

  7. After 30 minutes, add the chicken pieces to the mould.

  8. Set the mould in a cold place to harden.

Serve

  1. Serve with mayonnaise.

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 + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Celery + turniptop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Tomato + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Provides the meat and flavour in the stock and the pieces set within the aspic.
Egg whites
Collect impurities as they cook, clarifying the stock into a clear jelly.
Gelatine
Sets the strained stock into a firm, sliceable jelly as it cools.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and colour to the stock.
Carrot
Adds sweetness and body to the stock.
Onion
Adds savoury depth and aroma to the stock.

The step that matters

Adding the egg whites to the cold stock. The whites must be stirred into cold stock before heating. As it warms, they coagulate and trap particles, clarifying the liquid. Adding them to hot stock makes them cook unevenly and cloud the jelly.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, tomato, onion, garlic, carrot, celery, turnip):

  1. Cuminfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, tomato, onion, garlic, carrot, celery, turnip. 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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