Why it works: Tarragon and chervil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 824 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Aspic Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Boil tarragon and chervil in vinegar until the flavor is strong.
Add jelly of white meat or poultry and season to taste.
Clarify the mixture.
Whisk the egg whites until light and stir them into the boiling aspic.
When it turns white, cover and set aside to cool.
Once clear, strain through a jelly bag with sweet jelly.
If the jelly is not stiff enough when cold, add more calf's foot stock.
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 + cherviltop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together824 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Chervil + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together620 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
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Tarragon + eggtop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,789 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
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Meat + eggtop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,432 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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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
- Whites coagulate as they heat, trapping cloudy particles so the aspic can be clarified to a clear finish.
- Jelly of white meat or poultry
- Its gelatin sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable jelly once chilled.
- Tarragon
- Steeped in vinegar, it gives the aspic its strong herbal aroma.
- Chervil
- Steeped in vinegar, it adds a delicate herbal flavor to the aspic.
The step that matters
Clarifying the mixture with egg whites. Stirring the whites into the boiling liquid and letting them rise and set traps cloudy particles. Stirring too early or boiling too hard can leave the aspic cloudy rather than clear.
“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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