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Aspic Jelly From Calves’ Feet

Aspic jelly made from calf feet, vegetables, and vinegar, set with egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Leek and shallot share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 64 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Aspic Jelly From Calves’ Feet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the stock

  1. Wash, blanch, and cut each calf's foot into 4 or more pieces.

  2. Place the pieces in a stewpan with 5 pints of cold water and bring to a boil.

  3. Skim the surface carefully, then add the chopped vegetables, bouquet garni, peppercorns, and salt.

  4. Simmer gently for 5 to 6 hours.

  5. Strain the stock and let it cool, then remove all fat.

Clarify and finish

  1. In the same stewpan, combine the stock, lemon juice, lemon rind, egg whites, and shells.

  2. Whisk over heat until hot, then add the malt vinegar, tarragon vinegar, and chili vinegar.

  3. Bring to a boil while whisking, then simmer slowly for 30 minutes.

  4. Strain carefully through a thin cloth or jelly bag.

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. Leek + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together64 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  2. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

  4. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

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

  5. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

What each ingredient does

Calves' feet
Release gelatin into the water, which sets the stock into a firm aspic when cooled.
Egg whites and shells
Bind to impurities as they heat, lifting cloudiness so the aspic strains clear.
Malt vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the rich stock.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity and fresh aroma that lift the flavour of the clarified stock.

The step that matters

Whisk while bringing the clarifying mixture to a boil. Whisking keeps the egg whites dispersed so they can coagulate and trap particles. If the mixture is left to boil without stirring, the whites can set in lumps and the aspic stays cloudy.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (leek, shallot, carrot, celery, parsley, thyme, lemon):

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Turnipfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against leek, shallot, carrot, celery, parsley, thyme, 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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