Why it works: Tarragon and sherry work together. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 158 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
To Claeift Meat Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the stock
Prepare the meat stock and strain it into a basin.
Let it cool completely and remove all the fat carefully.
Check the consistency by placing a small piece on ice.
If too stiff, add more broth; if too loose, reduce the stock over heat.
Clarify and set
In a basin, whisk together the egg whites, water, vinegar, and sherry.
Whisk the boiling stock quickly and pour in the egg mixture while whisking.
Continue whisking for a few minutes without boiling.
Taste for seasoning, then cover the pot and place it a little distance from the fire, adding red-hot cinders on the lid for five minutes.
Tie a napkin over a jelly stand and pour the jelly through it into a basin below, repeating until it runs clear.
Pour the clear jelly into a plain mold or sauté pan.
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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Tarragon + sherrytop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together158 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Egg + tarragontop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,789 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
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Egg + meattop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,432 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Sherry + meattop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together505 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
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Tarragon + meattop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together184 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg whites
- Bind impurities and cloud particles, which rise and are filtered out, leaving the stock clear.
- Meat stock
- Provides the savoury body and the gelatin that sets the jelly once chilled.
- Sherry
- Adds aroma and a subtle sweetness to the finished jelly.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and helps the egg whites coagulate.
The step that matters
Whisking the boiling stock with the egg mixture. Egg whites must be whisked in while the stock is hot but not boiling. Adding them too early or letting the stock boil hard can scramble the egg, so impurities no longer cling to it and the jelly turns cloudy instead of clear.
Swap the tarragon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sherry, meat):
- Nutmegfits better
- Thymefits better
- Parsleyfits about as well
- Tarragonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sherry, meat. 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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