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Meat Jelly

A gelatinized beef stock made with beef, poultry trimmings, vegetables, herbs, and gelatin.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,873 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Meat Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and simmer

  1. Cut the beef into 1-inch square pieces.

  2. Chop the poultry trimmings.

  3. Put the beef and poultry into a saucepan with the water.

  4. Bring slowly to a boil, skimming carefully.

  5. Add the vegetables, herbs, and seasoning.

  6. Simmer gently for 4 hours.

Strain and set

  1. Strain through a fine sieve or jelly bag.

  2. When cold, mix the gelatin (previously soaked in cold water) into the jelly.

  3. If the jelly is not clear, reheat it.

  4. Clarify the jelly as needed.

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 + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Clove + shallottop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,677 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  4. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  5. Carrot + shallottop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together803 recipes

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

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 release body and flavour into the stock.
Poultry trimmings
Add extra savoury flavour and body to the stock.
Gelatine
Sets the cooled stock into a firm, wobbly jelly.

The step that matters

Bring slowly to a boil, skimming carefully. Heating gently and removing the scum that rises keeps the stock clear. Rushing the boil or leaving the scum in makes the jelly cloudy and harder to clarify later.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, carrot, onion, shallot):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, onion, shallot. 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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