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Meat Jellies for Pies and Sauces

A gelatinous stock made from beef, veal, ham, and aromatics, used for pies and sauces.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Meat Jellies for Pies and Sauces

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the stock

  1. Cut the shin of beef and knuckle or neck of veal into pieces.

  2. Combine the meat with cold water in a large pot.

  3. Add the ham, carrots, parsley, onion, bay leaves, mace, peppercorns, and salt.

Simmer and strain

  1. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 5 to 6 hours.

  2. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve or cloth to remove solids.

Chill and skim

  1. Once cooled, remove the fat from the surface.

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. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

  2. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  4. Parsley + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Shin of beef
Breaks down during long simmering, releasing gelatin that lets the liquid set into a jelly.
Knuckle or neck of veal
Rich in collagen, which dissolves into the broth and gives it body and a firm set when chilled.
Lean ham
Adds savoury, salty depth to the stock as it simmers with the meat.
Carrots
Contribute gentle sweetness and aroma to the finished stock.

The step that matters

Simmer gently, do not boil. A rolling boil makes the stock cloudy and emulsifies fat into it. A slow, gentle simmer extracts gelatin from the bones and connective tissue while keeping the liquid clear, which is needed for a clean, firm jelly.

Swap the mace

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, veal, ham, carrot, parsley, onion, clove. 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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