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Aspic Jelly

A gelatinized stock made with brown stock, water, gelatin, lemon, herbs, spices, and egg whites, served chilled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Aspic Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Make the aspic

  1. Combine the stock, water, gelatin, lemon rind and juice, bouquet garni, chopped carrot, chopped onion, mace, cloves, salt, peppercorns, and egg whites in a bright saucepan.

  2. Whisk over heat until boiling, then simmer for 15 minutes with the lid on.

  3. Strain the mixture through a napkin or jelly bag twice.

Set and decorate

  1. Pour into a shape and decorate with pieces of lobster, chicken, or oysters as desired.

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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Marjoram + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Parsley + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

  5. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Gelatine
Sets the strained liquid into a firm, wobbly jelly when cooled.
Egg whites and shells
Clarify the stock by trapping particles that are then strained out, leaving it clear.
Brown stock
Provides the main savoury flavour and body of the aspic.
Lemon
Adds acidity and aroma that brighten the savoury stock.

The step that matters

Straining through a napkin or jelly bag. Egg whites clarify the stock only if the trapped particles are fully removed, so the aspic stays clear. Straining twice, gently and without squeezing, keeps the jelly sparkling rather than cloudy.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, thyme, marjoram, parsley, carrot, onion, clove):

  1. Winter savoryfits better
  2. Sagefits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, thyme, marjoram, parsley, carrot, 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.

More aspic recipes

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

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