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Decorative Aspic Jelly

A clear gelatin-based jelly made with water, caramel, meat extract, tarragon, wine, vinegar, gelatin, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Tarragon and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,547 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Decorative Aspic Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Make the jelly

  1. In a saucepan, combine water, caramel, meat extract, tarragon, wine, and vinegar.

  2. Heat the mixture until well combined.

  3. Dissolve gelatin in the mixture according to the quantity needed.

  4. Whisk in the egg whites to clarify the jelly.

Set

  1. Pour the mixture into a mold and refrigerate until set.

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. Tarragon + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,547 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Wine + vinegartop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,493 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Tarragon + winetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together521 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  4. Tarragon + eggtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,789 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  5. Meat + eggtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,432 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Gelatine
Forms the gel network that makes the jelly set firm when chilled.
Egg whites
Bind to cloudy particles as they heat, so they can be strained out and the jelly clears.
Meat extract
Supplies the savoury beefy flavour that carries the whole jelly.

The step that matters

Whisk in the egg whites to clarify the jelly. Egg whites must be whisked in evenly before heating so they can trap cloudy particles. If the mixture is not clarified, the jelly stays cloudy and loses its clear, glossy look.

“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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