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Aspic Jelly — Gelee a L’ Aspic [For General Use in Cold Entrees]

A clear gelatinized stock made with veal stock, gelatine, bouquet garni, sherry, vinegar, lemon juice, egg whites, and celery.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

Aspic Jelly — Gelee a L’ Aspic [For General Use in Cold Entrees]

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Ensure the stock is cold and remove any fat from the surface.

  2. Combine the gelatine and bouquet garni with the stock in a saucepan.

  3. Chop the celery into small pieces.

  4. Beat the egg whites lightly and mix them with the stock.

Clarify and strain

  1. Stir continuously over medium heat until nearly boiling.

  2. Add the wine, vinegar, and lemon juice.

  3. Allow to boil briefly.

  4. Move the saucepan to the side of the stove for about 20 minutes.

  5. Strain through a jelly bag or cloth.

  6. Repeat until perfectly clear.

  7. Store the aspic in a basin until needed.

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

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

  4. Tarragon + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together528 recipes

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

  5. Parsley + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal stock
Forms the base liquid, and its clarity determines the finished aspic's appearance.
Leaf gelatine
Sets the liquid into a firm jelly as it cools.
Egg whites
Collect impurities as they heat, clarifying the stock into a clear liquid.
Sherry or santerne
Adds aroma and a touch of sweetness to the finished jelly.
French wine vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the jelly.

The step that matters

Stirring until nearly boiling, then leaving the pan off the heat. Egg whites must be stirred gently while the stock warms so they coagulate and trap particles; boiling hard breaks up this raft and leaves the aspic cloudy. Repeated straining then removes what remains.

Swap the chervil

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, parsley, tarragon, thyme, lemon, sherry, wine):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Sagefits about as well
  3. Fennelfits about as well
  4. Chervilthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, parsley, tarragon, thyme, lemon, sherry, wine. 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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