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Meat Jellies for Pies and Sauces

A gelatinous broth made from beef, veal, ham, and aromatics, used as a base for pies and sauces.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Meat Jellies for Pies and Sauces

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the shin of beef and knuckle or neck of veal into pieces.

  2. Combine the meat with cold water in a large pot.

Make the jelly

  1. Add the ham, carrots, parsley, onion, bay leaves, mace, peppercorns, and salt.

  2. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 5 to 6 hours.

  3. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve or cloth to remove solids.

  4. Let the jelly cool, then remove the fat from the surface.

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

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

  2. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Parsley + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef shin
Breaks down into gelatin as it simmers, giving the stock its body and setting power.
Veal knuckle or neck
Adds collagen-rich connective tissue that dissolves into gelatin, helping the jelly set when cool.
Lean ham
Contributes savoury, salty flavour to the stock.

The step that matters

Simmering gently over 5 to 6 hours. A rolling boil emulsifies fat into the liquid and clouds the jelly, while gentle heat slowly converts collagen into gelatin without breaking the stock apart. Keeping the simmer low gives a clear, firm set.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, veal, ham, carrot, parsley, onion, clove):

  1. Celeryfits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, veal, ham, carrot, parsley, onion, clove. 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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