Why it works: Sherry and beef work together. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 871 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓
To Prepare the Gravy for Filling
Ingredients
Directions
Dissolve gelatin in clear consommé.
Add beef extract and sherry.
Bring to a boil, then cool until just before setting.
Fill moulds with the mixture, ensuring it is cool to avoid melting the aspic lining.
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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Sherry + beeftop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together871 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a firm, clear jelly as it cools.
- Clear soup
- Forms the liquid base, giving the aspic its savoury flavour and clarity.
- Sherry
- Adds aroma and a touch of acidity and sweetness to the savoury base.
- Bovril or beef extract
- Concentrates beefy flavour and deepens the colour of the aspic.
The step that matters
Cool the mixture until just before it sets. Gelatine sets as it cools, so pouring too hot can melt the aspic lining already in the mould, while waiting until it is nearly set lets it hold its shape and layer cleanly.
“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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