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Aspic Jelly

Aspic jelly is a savory gelatin made with stock, vegetables, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and carrot are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21,601 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Aspic Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Place all ingredients except sherry in a pan.

  2. Stir until gelatine is dissolved.

  3. Whisk the eggs well.

  4. Let it boil undisturbed for 5 minutes.

  5. Allow it to settle for 5 minutes.

  6. Pass through a jelly bag until clear.

  7. If using sherry, add it as the liquid runs through the bag for the last time.

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. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  2. Lemon + carrottop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,351 recipes

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

  3. Sherry + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together660 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  4. Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Sherry + carrottop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

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, wobbly jelly as it cools.
Eggs
Whites and shells collect cloudy particles, leaving the aspic clear when strained.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the finished aspic.
Sherry
Adds aroma and a mellow sweetness to the finished aspic.

The step that matters

Let it boil undisturbed for 5 minutes. Boiling without stirring lets the egg whites rise and trap cloudy particles. Disturbing the pan breaks up this raft and leaves the aspic cloudy after straining.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sherry, lemon, carrot, vinegar, egg):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Cucumberfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sherry, lemon, carrot, 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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