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
Make the jelly
Dissolve the gelatine in ½ cup of cold water.
Combine the veal gravy, liquor, sugar, vinegar, and burnt sugar in a bowl.
Add the dissolved gelatine to the mixture and mix well.
Stir in the boiling water and strain through a flannel.
Let the jelly cool and begin to thicken.
Set in a mold
Slice the tongue as for serving.
Wet a mold with cold water and add a layer of jelly to the bottom.
Layer the tongue slices and jelly alternately until all ingredients are used.
Cover the mold and place it in a cool place to set.
Serve
To serve, dip the mold in hot water briefly, invert onto a dish, and garnish with celery sprigs and nasturtium flowers.
Cut with a thin, sharp knife.
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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Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Veal + vinegartop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together948 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
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Veal + sugartop 43% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,001 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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, sliceable jelly.
- Veal gravy
- Adds savoury body and a rich, browned flavour to the jelly.
- Tongue
- Provides the meat that is suspended and sliced within the jelly.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour of the jelly.
- Burnt sugar
- Gives the jelly a deep brown colour and a slightly bitter caramel note.
The step that matters
Let the jelly cool and begin to thicken before layering. If the jelly is still hot and liquid, it will not hold the tongue slices in place and may separate or sink. Gelatine needs to cool to a syrupy state so each layer sets in position.
“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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