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Fillets of Chicken in Savory Jelly

Chicken fillets are set in a savory gelatin made from consommé, egg whites, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Tarragon and chervil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 824 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Fillets of Chicken in Savory Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the chicken

  1. Fillet the roasted chickens and slice the fillets into pieces the size of a shilling.

Make the jelly

  1. Combine the egg whites, tarragon vinegar, and salt in a saucepan.

  2. Beat the mixture with a fork.

  3. Pour in the consommé and stir continuously over heat until it boils.

  4. Remove the spoon and let it simmer gently until reduced to 1 quart.

  5. Strain the mixture through a jelly bag.

  6. Stir in chopped tarragon and chervil.

Set and unmold

  1. Fill a mold halfway with the jelly.

  2. Once the jelly has set, arrange the chicken pieces neatly around the edges.

  3. Fill the mold to the top with the remaining jelly.

  4. Let the jelly set completely.

  5. To unmold, dip the mold in warm water until it loosens.

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 + cherviltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together824 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. Vinegar + cherviltop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together561 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Chicken + tarragontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together619 recipes

    Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).

  5. Chicken + cherviltop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together206 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Clarify the consommé as they coagulate, producing a clear, sparkling jelly.
Consommé
Forms the savory liquid base that sets into the jelly.
Roasted chickens
Supply the meat pieces that are suspended in the set jelly.
Tarragon vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the savory jelly.

The step that matters

Stirring the consommé while it heats. Egg whites must be stirred until the mixture boils, then left undisturbed. Stirring after they begin to set breaks up the coagulated raft, so the jelly stays cloudy rather than clear.

“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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