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Aspic Jelly

Aspic jelly is a gelatinous meat stock made with gelatine, stock, eggs, pepper, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and tarragon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 548 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Aspic Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the gelatine in water until it softens, then strain off the water.

  2. In a basin, combine the gelatine with the stock.

Clarify and cook

  1. In a clean saucepan, add the eggs, peppercorns, and bouquet garni.

  2. Stir in the tarragon vinegar and common vinegar.

  3. Whisk the egg whites and shells with the whole egg, then whisk until the eggs froth.

  4. Add the stock and gelatine mixture.

  5. Heat over low heat and whisk until it boils.

  6. Let it simmer, then set aside until it becomes clear.

Finish

  1. Strain into a basin.

  2. When cold, it is ready for garnishing dishes and salads.

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. Clove + tarragontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together548 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Garlic + tarragontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together884 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Clove + garlictop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,368 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Garlic + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,115 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Gelatine
Sets the stock into a firm, clear jelly when it cools.
Egg whites
Bind to impurities in the stock and collect them, clearing the liquid.
Stock
Provides the main body and savoury flavour of the aspic.
Tarragon vinegar
Adds acidity and aroma, helping to brighten the flavour of the jelly.

The step that matters

Letting it simmer and clear. The egg whites must be whisked to a boil, then left undisturbed so they can bind impurities. Stirring or boiling too hard breaks up the raft, leaving the aspic cloudy instead of clear.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, egg, clove, garlic, tarragon, vinegar):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, egg, clove, garlic, tarragon, vinegar. 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.

More aspic recipes

Chicken 77Meat 26Tomato 25Jelly 16Lobster 14Beef 10 See all 167 →

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