Skip to main content
Main

Meat Jellies for Pies and Sauces

A gelatinous stock made from beef, veal, ham, and aromatics, used as a base for pies and sauces.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Meat Jellies for Pies and Sauces

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. In a large pot, combine the shin of beef, knuckle or neck of veal, and water.

  2. Add the lean ham, carrots, parsley, onion, bay leaves, mace, peppercorns, and salt.

  3. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 5 to 6 hours, ensuring it does not boil rapidly.

Clarify and chill

  1. After cooking, strain the mixture through a fine sieve or cloth to clarify.

  2. Once cooled, remove the fat from the surface.

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 + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

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

  4. Parsley + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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 gelatin during long simmering, giving the stock its jelly-like body.
Knuckle or neck of veal
Adds collagen-rich connective tissue that turns into gelatin, helping the liquid set when cooled.
Lean ham
Contributes savoury, salty flavour to the stock.
Onion
Adds aromatic sweetness and depth to the stock as it cooks.

The step that matters

Simmer gently, do not boil. A rapid boil makes the stock cloudy and emulsifies fat into it. A slow simmer lets collagen convert to gelatin while keeping the liquid clear, so it sets properly when cooled.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Celeryfits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, veal, ham, carrot, parsley, onion, clove. 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 meat jelly recipes

Savory 11Cold 3Soup 3 See all 54 →

You might also like

Beef, Mutton, or Veal BrothBeef, Mutton, or Veal Broth6 recipesRoast BeefRoast Beef211 recipesBeef LoafBeef Loaf175 recipesCarrot SoupCarrot Soup134 recipes