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Aspic Jelly

Aspic jelly is a gelatinized stock made with gelatine, egg whites, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and tarragon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,563 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Aspic Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the gelatine in the water.

  2. Strain the stock through a towel and place it in a saucepan.

Make the aspic

  1. When warm, add the soaked gelatine, parsley, vinegar, pepper, and salt; stir until the gelatine is melted.

  2. Add the egg whites and shells, whisk until boiling, cover, and let stand for twenty minutes.

  3. Strain the mixture and add the sherry.

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Tarragon + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Vinegar + tarragontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,547 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Vinegar + sherrytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together660 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

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

What each ingredient does

Stock
Forms the clear liquid base that sets into the jelly.
Gelatine
Sets the liquid into a firm jelly as it cools.
Egg whites and shells
Collect fine particles as they cook, clarifying the stock into a clear aspic.
Sherry
Adds aroma and a mild sweetness to the finished jelly.

The step that matters

Add the egg whites and shells, then let stand. The egg whites must be whisked into the hot stock until it boils so they can coagulate and trap cloudy particles. Letting it stand covered lets the solids settle, so straining afterward gives a clear aspic rather than a murky one.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, vinegar, sherry, tarragon, pepper):

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Dillfits about as well
  4. Marjoramfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, vinegar, sherry, tarragon, pepper. 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.

More aspic recipes

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