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Aspic Jelly

Aspic is a gelatinous dish made by simmering beef, veal, and calves' feet with vegetables, clarified with egg whites, and flavored with tarragon and lemon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Aspic Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the broth

  1. Wash the beef, calves' feet, and veal.

  2. Place the meats in a large pot with the carrots, onions, parsley, and water.

  3. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  4. Reduce the heat and simmer until the liquid is reduced by half.

  5. Skim off fat as needed.

  6. Remove from heat and let the broth sit for a few minutes.

  7. Strain the broth through a colander and a clean cloth.

  8. Once cooled, remove all fat and grease.

Clarify and flavor

  1. Whisk the egg whites in a pint of water.

  2. Warm the clarified broth.

  3. Stir in the egg mixture.

  4. Allow the mixture to boil for 15 minutes.

  5. Strain the mixture through a jelly bag.

  6. Warm the clear jelly.

  7. Flavor the jelly with tarragon and lemon juice.

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

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

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Tarragon + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,137 recipes

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

  5. Carrot + tarragontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together463 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

Shin of beef
Breaks down during long simmering to give the broth body and savory depth.
Calves' feet
Release collagen as they simmer, which gels as the broth cools to form the aspic.
Knuckle of veal
Adds collagen and gelatin-rich body, helping the broth set firmly when chilled.
Egg whites
Coagulate and trap cloudy particles, clarifying the broth into a clear jelly.

The step that matters

Clarifying the broth with egg whites. Egg whites must be whisked into the broth and brought to a boil so they coagulate and trap impurities. Stirring too vigorously or skipping the straining leaves the jelly cloudy and murky.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, veal, carrot, parsley, egg, tarragon, lemon):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, veal, carrot, parsley, egg, tarragon, lemon. 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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