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Aspic Jelly

A clear savoury jelly made by clarifying white stock with vegetables, seasonings, egg white and gelatin.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 18 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

Cook the base

  1. In a saucepan, cook the carrots, onion, parsley, lemon rind, and dried celery leaves in butter for 5 minutes without browning.

  2. Add the cloves, pepper berries, vinegar, lemon juice, and stock.

  3. Simmer for 1 hour.

  4. Strain the mixture.

  5. Add salt and cayenne to taste.

  6. Cool and remove any fat.

Clarify

  1. Add the beaten egg white and crushed shells, mixing thoroughly.

  2. Gradually heat to boiling, stirring constantly.

  3. Boil for 5 minutes and remove from heat.

  4. Add 4 cups of cold water and let stand for 5 minutes.

  5. Strain through a cotton cloth.

Set and finish

  1. Soften the gelatin in the cold water.

  2. Reheat the cleared liquid and pour it over the softened gelatin.

  3. Strain again and it is ready for use.

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

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

  3. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  4. Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Gelatin
Sets the clear liquid into a firm jelly as it cools.
Egg white
Coagulates during heating and gathers cloudy particles so the stock becomes clear.
White stock
Forms the main liquid that becomes the jelly.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor of the stock.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity and fresh citrus flavor to the stock.
Onion
Adds aroma and savory sweetness as it softens in butter.

The step that matters

Heating the egg white mixture. Stir constantly while heating to boiling. The egg white must be evenly dispersed and coagulate gently so it traps impurities, and constant stirring keeps it from sticking, scorching, or breaking up before it can clarify the liquid.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, vinegar, lemon, parsley, celery, pepper, butter):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, vinegar, lemon, parsley, celery, pepper, butter. 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.