Skip to main content
Main

Aspic Jelly

Aspic jelly is a clear gelatinized stock made with lemon, Bovril, sherry, vegetables, herbs, and gelatin.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Aspic Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Peel one lemon, then place its rind and the juice of both lemons in a clean, dry saucepan.

  2. Add the gelatine, Bovril, water, and all other ingredients.

  3. Whisk over medium heat until it boils, then reduce heat and let it simmer gently for at least 15 minutes.

  4. Scald a clean cloth or jelly bag, then strain the jelly until it is bright and clear.

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

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

  3. Thyme + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  4. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Gelatine
Sets the stock into a firm, wobbly jelly as it cools.
Egg whites and shells
Bind fine particles and draw cloudiness out of the stock, leaving it clear.
Bovril
Adds savory, meaty depth to the clear stock.
Sherry or madeira wine
Adds aromatic depth and a mellow sweetness to the jelly.
Lemons
Provide acidity that brightens the flavour of the stock.

The step that matters

Strain until bright and clear. Cloudiness comes from fine particles left in the stock. Straining through a scalded cloth or jelly bag, with the egg whites having drawn impurities up, gives a clear, glossy aspic. Rushing or skipping this leaves a murky jelly.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Parsnipfits better
  3. Turnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, sherry, carrot, parsley, tarragon, thyme, basil. 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.

You might also like

Lemon SauceLemon Sauce236 recipesCarrot SoupCarrot Soup134 recipesCream of Celery SoupCream of Celery Soup113 recipesCelery StewCelery Stew25 recipes