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Aspic Jelly

Aspic jelly made from stock, gelatin, egg whites, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and tarragon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 602 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Aspic Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the gelatin in ½ pint of stock for 1–2 hours.

  2. Beat the egg whites and shells with ½ cup of cold water, tarragon vinegar, lemon juice, and salt.

Clarify and strain

  1. Combine with the other ingredients in an enamelled stewpan.

  2. Whisk over heat until boiling, then reduce heat and let stand for 20 minutes until a thick scum forms.

  3. Strain through a jelly bag or table napkin until clear.

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. Shallot + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together602 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Tarragon + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,137 recipes

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

  3. Shallot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,677 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Shallot + lemontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,523 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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, wobbly jelly as it cools.
Egg whites and shells
Coagulate as they heat, trapping particles so the stock becomes clear.
White meat or game stock
Forms the liquid base that the gelatine sets and carries the flavour.
Shallots
Add savoury aromatic flavour to the stock during simmering.
Cloves
Add warm, spiced aroma to the stock.
Mace
Adds a delicate, warm aroma to the stock.

The step that matters

Let the scum form without hard boiling. Egg whites coagulate gently and trap cloudy particles in a scum. Vigorous boiling breaks this raft apart and leaves the stock cloudy, so keep the heat low once it reaches the boil.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, shallot, clove, egg, tarragon, vinegar, lemon):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, shallot, clove, egg, tarragon, vinegar, lemon. 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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