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Iiomard En Aspic

A chilled dish of lobster slices set in aspic with egg whites, salad, and mayonnaise sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Lobster and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,095 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Iiomard En Aspic

Oven, in the book's wordsA warm oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lobster

  1. Dip lobster slices into white sauce.

  2. Chill the lobster slices until cold.

Set the mold

  1. Pour a little clear aspic jelly into the bottom of a flat cylinder mold.

  2. Decorate with hard-boiled egg whites cut into shapes like diamonds and leaves.

  3. Cover the mold with more jelly.

  4. Let it set.

  5. Layer lobster slices in the mold, filling it with aspic.

  6. Place the mold on ice until firm.

Unmold and serve

  1. Dip the mold in warm water.

  2. Turn the aspic out onto a dish.

  3. Fill the center with finely cut salad.

  4. Top with more lobster.

  5. Drizzle sauce mayonnaise over the top.

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. Lobster + saucetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Lobster + eggtop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,484 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

  3. Sauce + eggtop 39% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together10,895 recipes

Sauce and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,895 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

Lobster
Forms the main filling and provides the rich, savory flavor of the dish.
Clear aspic jelly
Sets into a firm, clear gel that holds the lobster and gives the dish its structure.
White sauce
Coats the lobster slices, adding creaminess and a smooth layer under the jelly.
Whites of hard-boiled eggs
Adds decorative shapes and a mild, firm texture visible through the clear jelly.
Sauce mayonnaise a la gelee
Adds a creamy, tangy finish that contrasts with the cold, firm aspic.

The step that matters

Let each layer set before adding the next. Aspic is a gelatin-based jelly that only firms when cold. Pouring new jelly onto a layer that is not yet set can disturb decorations and blur the layers, so each layer should be firm before the next is added.

“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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