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Aspic Jelly

Aspic is a gelatinous stock made from stock, gelatin, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Tarragon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,399 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Aspic Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the stock

  1. Season the stock with salt, pepper, and vinegar.

  2. Remove any fat from the stock.

Make the aspic

  1. Heat the stock and stir in the gelatin until dissolved.

  2. Whisk the egg white to stiff peaks and fold it into the mixture.

  3. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 5 minutes without stirring.

  4. Strain the mixture through a thick towel rinsed in boiling water.

Finish

  1. If desired, add cochineal for color.

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. Tarragon + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Tarragon + eggtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,789 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  5. Vinegar + eggtop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,922 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Vinegar and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,922 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Stock
Forms the flavourful liquid base that the aspic is made from.
Gelatine
Sets the cooled liquid into a clear, firm jelly.
Egg white
Gathers fine particles as it cooks, helping clarify the liquid for a clear result.
Tarragon
Adds a distinct herbal aroma to the savoury jelly.

The step that matters

Simmer without stirring after adding the egg white. As the egg white heats, it rises and traps sediment and cloudiness. Stirring breaks up this raft, leaving the aspic cloudy instead of clear.

Swap the tarragon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, vinegar, egg):

  1. Tarragonthe original
  2. Dillfits about as well
  3. Parsleyfits less well
  4. Allspicefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, vinegar, egg. 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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