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Aspic Jelly

Aspic jelly is a savory gelatin made from herbs, vinegar, chicken consommé, egg whites, and clarified stock.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Chervil and tarragon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 824 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Aspic Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Make the infused consommé

  1. Boil the herbs in white vinegar until well scented.

  2. Pour the scented vinegar into a stew-pan with the reduced chicken consommé and season well.

  3. Beat the egg whites in an earthen pan with an osier rod.

  4. Add the aspic mixture to the egg whites and heat in a stew-pan, stirring until it becomes white and near boiling.

  5. Cover and place on the corner of the stove with a little heat on top until clear.

  6. Strain through a bag or sieve for use.

Make the firmer jelly

  1. For a firmer jelly, place the veal knuckle, ham, calf feet, and trimmings in a stock-pot with onions, carrots, and herbs, moisten with broth, and boil gently for 4 hours.

  2. Skim off the fat and drain through a silken sieve into a stew-pan.

  3. Add tarragon vinegar, egg whites, salt, and pepper to clarify, stirring until very white.

  4. Set aside with a little heat until clear, then drain through a cloth or jelly-bag.

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. Chervil + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together824 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Tarragon + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Tarragon + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,547 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Chervil + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together867 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Chicken + vealtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,243 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-butanedione (buttery, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Collect impurities as they heat, clarifying the liquid so it becomes clear.
Reduced chicken consommé
Provides the concentrated savoury liquid that sets into the jelly.
Calf feet
Release gelatine during long gentle boiling, helping the jelly set firmer.
Veal knuckle
Adds gelatine and body to the stock, helping the jelly set firmer.
White vinegar
Extracts the aromatic flavour of the herbs and adds gentle acidity.

The step that matters

Clarifying with egg whites. Heat must be kept gentle once the egg whites begin to set. Boiling hard breaks up the coagulated whites and cloudies the liquid, so it should stay just under a simmer until clear.

Swap the chervil

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tarragon, vinegar, chicken, egg, pepper, veal, ham):

  1. Parsleyfits about as well
  2. Marjoramfits about as well
  3. Chervilthe original
  4. Thymefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against tarragon, vinegar, chicken, egg, pepper, veal, ham. 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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