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Aspic, or Clear Savoury-jelly

A clear savoury jelly made by boiling calf's feet, veal, and ham, then clarifying the stock with egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and carrot are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21,601 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Aspic, or Clear Savoury-jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Boil calf's feet, veal, ham, onions, carrots, and herbs in water until reduced by more than half.

  2. Strain the mixture and let it cool completely, then remove all fat and sediment.

Clarify

  1. Put the jelly into a clean saucepan and add beaten egg whites; stir until nearly boiling.

  2. Simmer by the fire for 15 minutes, then let it settle.

  3. Pour through a jelly bag until clear.

Season

  1. When it begins to boil, add mace, white peppercorns, and salt to taste.

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. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Carrot + macetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Veal + carrottop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,264 recipes

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

  5. Onion + macetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,078 recipes

    Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).

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

What each ingredient does

Calf's feet
Their collagen dissolves into the liquid and gives the finished jelly its ability to set.
Veal knuckle
Its collagen and meat add body and a savory base to the stock.
Egg whites
They coagulate as the liquid heats, trapping sediment so the jelly can be strained clear.
Lean ham
It adds savory, meaty flavor to the stock.
Onions
They add aromatic sweetness and depth to the stock.

The step that matters

Bring the egg white mixture to nearly boiling, not a hard boil. As the egg whites heat, they set into a raft that traps impurities. Vigorous boiling breaks up this raft and clouds the jelly, so it should only come close to a boil before the simmer.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, ham, onion, carrot, egg):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Celeryfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, ham, onion, carrot, egg. 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.