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 ↓
Good Aspic
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the broth
Soak the Agar Agar Jelly in cold water.
Heat the broth over low heat.
Add Bovril, parsley, pepper, and salt to the warmed broth.
Bring the mixture to a boil.
Clarify
Remove the broth from heat.
Strain the broth through a fine sieve.
Add the egg whites and shells and stir the mixture.
Let the mixture sit for a few seconds.
Strain the mixture again through a fine muslin cloth.
Finish
Mix in the tarragon vinegar, water, and sherry.
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.
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Parsley + tarragontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,563 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Tarragon + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,547 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Vinegar + sherrytop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together660 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
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Parsley + agartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Tarragon + agartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Broth
- Forms the savoury liquid base that gives the aspic its main flavour and body.
- Agar agar jelly
- Sets the liquid into a firm gel as it cools.
- Eggs
- Whites and shells coagulate as they heat, trapping cloudy particles so they can be strained out.
- Bovril
- Adds concentrated savoury, meaty flavour to the broth.
- Sherry
- Adds aromatic, wine-based flavour to the finished aspic.
The step that matters
Strain through fine muslin after the egg clarification. As the egg whites heat, they coagulate and trap cloudy particles. Stirring or disturbing the mixture breaks this raft, so the liquid stays cloudy. Letting it settle and straining gently through fine muslin gives a clear jelly.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tarragon, vinegar, agar, egg, sherry):
- Capersfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Thymefits about as well
- Nutmegfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against tarragon, vinegar, agar, egg, sherry. 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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