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Aspic, or Clear Savoury-jelly

A clear savory jelly made from calf's feet, veal, ham, onions, carrots, herbs, and clarified with egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and carrot are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21,601 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Aspic, or Clear Savoury-jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Boil calf's feet, veal, ham, onions, carrots, and herbs in water until reduced by more than half.

  2. Strain the mixture.

  3. Let it cool completely.

  4. Remove all fat and sediment.

Clarify the jelly

  1. Put the jelly into a clean saucepan and add beaten egg whites.

  2. Stir until nearly boiling.

  3. Simmer for 15 minutes.

  4. Let it settle.

  5. Pour through a jelly bag until clear.

  6. When it begins to boil, add mace, white peppercorns, and salt to taste.

Finish and serve

  1. Consider adding tarragon vinegar after clarifying.

  2. Layer boiled tongue or carved fowl in the jelly.

  3. Add a pinch of isinglass if desired.

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. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  2. Carrot + macetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Veal + carrottop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,015 recipes

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

  4. Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,264 recipes

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

  5. Onion + macetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,078 recipes

    Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).

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

What each ingredient does

Calf's feet
Their collagen releases gelatin during long boiling, which lets the stock set into a firm jelly.
Knuckle of veal
Adds gelatin and body to the stock, helping the finished jelly hold its shape when chilled.
Egg whites
Coagulate as they heat, trapping cloudy particles so the jelly can be strained clear.
Lean ham
Contributes savoury, salty flavour to the stock that carries through into the finished jelly.

The step that matters

Stir the egg whites in until nearly boiling. Egg whites must be stirred in and heated gently so they coagulate and gather sediment into a raft. Vigorous boiling breaks the raft apart and leaves the jelly cloudy.

Swap the mace

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, ham, onion, carrot, egg. 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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