Skip to main content
Main

Jellied Tongue

A chilled gelatin set made from boiled tongue, veal gravy, and herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Gelatin and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,778 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Jellied Tongue

Ingredients

Directions

Make the jelly

  1. Combine the gravy, sugar, ketchup, burnt sugar dissolved in a little cold water, and herbs.

  2. Add the dissolved gelatin, then the boiling water, and strain through a fine cloth.

  3. Let the jelly cool and begin to thicken.

Layer and set

  1. Wet a plain mold with cold water and add a small amount of jelly to the bottom.

  2. Arrange slices of hard-boiled egg in the jelly, then add more jelly and a layer of tongue.

  3. Repeat layering with jelly and tongue until the mold is filled.

  4. Cover and refrigerate until firm.

Serve

  1. To serve, dip the mold in hot water briefly, invert onto a dish, and garnish with celery, parsley, or nasturtium flowers.

  2. Cut with a thin, sharp knife perpendicularly.

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. Gelatin + sugartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Sugar + ketchuptop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together260 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Gelatin + ketchuptop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Veal + ketchuptop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together527 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanoic acid (soapy, waxy).

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

What each ingredient does

Gelatin
Sets the liquid into a firm jelly that holds the layers together when turned out.
Veal gravy
Provides the rich, savory body and browned flavor of the jelly.
Tongue
Forms the meat layers, giving the dish its main substance and texture.
Burnt sugar
Adds the deep brown color to the jelly, with a slight bittersweet note.
Hard-boiled egg
Contributes a mild, firm contrast in texture and color between the layers.

The step that matters

Cool the jelly until it just begins to thicken before layering. Gelatin sets as it cools. If the jelly is still very hot or fully set, layers will blend or fail to bond, and if it is too cold the next layer may not fuse with the one below.

“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.

You might also like

Veal PattiesVeal Patties50 recipesBeef, Mutton, or Veal BrothBeef, Mutton, or Veal Broth6 recipesTomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipes