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Jellied Tongue

A chilled jelly made from beef tongue, gelatin, gravy, sugar, vinegar, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,806 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Jellied Tongue

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tongue

  1. Boil the beef tongue until done, saving 1 pint of the cooking liquor.

  2. Remove the skin and let the tongue cool completely, then slice it.

Make the jelly

  1. In ½ cup of water, dissolve 2 ounces of gelatine thoroughly.

  2. Degrease 1 teacup of brown gravy and stir in 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1 tablespoon of burned sugar, and 3 tablespoons of vinegar.

  3. Add the reserved cooking liquor and mix in the dissolved gelatine.

  4. Stir in 1 pint of boiling water and strain through a jelly bag.

Set and serve

  1. Pour a little jelly into the bottom of a mold, add a layer of tongue, and then more jelly until full.

  2. Set the mold in a cold place to set.

  3. To serve, dip the mold briefly in hot water and turn the contents onto a platter, garnishing with lettuce leaves, nasturtium flowers, or celery sprigs.

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. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Beef + vinegartop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,895 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Beef + sugartop 37% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,435 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef tongue
Forms the sliced meat that is suspended in the set jelly.
Gelatine
Sets the liquid into a firm jelly that holds its shape when turned out.
Brown beef or veal gravy
Adds savory meaty depth and body to the jelly.
Burned sugar
Darkens the jelly to give it a rich brown color.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor of the rich jelly.

The step that matters

Strain the jelly before pouring it into the mold. Straining removes particles and fat that would cloud the jelly and spoil its clear appearance. Gelatine must be fully dissolved first, because undissolved granules leave gritty spots and weak patches in the set jelly.

“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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