Name: Aspic Jelly
Ingredients: handful of tarragon; handful of chervil; jelly of white meat or poultry; whites of 4 or 5 eggs; calf's foot stock (if needed)

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 and add the whisked egg whites.
Stir constantly over heat until the mixture turns white.
Cover and set aside to cool until clear.
Strain through a jelly bag with sweet jelly.
If the jelly is not stiff enough, add more calf's foot stock.

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.

Tarragon + cherviltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together824 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Chervil + eggtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together620 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
Tarragon + eggtop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,789 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
Meat + eggtop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,432 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Tarragon + meattop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together184 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).