Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Aspic Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Make the aspic
Soak the gelatin in cold water for a few minutes.
Stir the hot soup stock (or beef extract mixture) into the soaked gelatin.
Add salt, vinegar, cayenne, paprika, and sherry wine if desired. Mix well.
Pour the mixture into a wet pan or mold.
Place it in cold water to cool.
Turn out and cut
Warm the bottom of the pan with a cloth dipped in hot water to remove the aspic jelly.
If cutting into shapes, dip the cutter into boiling water first.
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.
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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Vinegar + sherrytop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together660 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
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Vinegar + winetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,493 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Pepper + sherrytop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,107 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a firm jelly as it cools.
- Soup stock
- Provides the savoury liquid base that the gelatine sets.
The step that matters
Pour into a wet pan or mold. Gelatine sets as it cools, so a wet surface helps the aspic release cleanly when turned out instead of sticking.
“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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