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Aspic Jelly
Put a knuckle-bone of veal, a knuckle-bone of ham, a calf's foot, four cloves stuck into one large onion, one large carrot, and a bunch of savoury herbs, in two quarts of water, and boil gently until it is reduced rather more than half. Strain, and put it aside to cool. Very carefully remove every particle of fat or sediment, and place the jelly in a saucepan with a glass of white wine, a table-spoonful of tarragon vinegar, salt and pepper to taste, and the whites of two eggs. Keep stirring until it nearly boils, which may be known by its becoming white, then draw it to the side of the fire, and simmer gently for a quarter of an hour. Put on the cover, let it stand to settle, and strain through a jelly-bag two or three times if necessary, until it is quite clear. Put it into a mould which has been soaked in cold water. Many small things are set in aspic, such as prawns, fillets of soles, cutlets, the remains of game, poultry, etc. Time, four or five hours. Sufficient for two and a half pints of jelly. Probable cost, 2s. 6d.
A classic clarified savoury jelly built entirely on natural gelatin from bone and foot — no packet gelatine anywhere. Most of the work is in the clarification, and the whole thing stands or falls on how patiently you handle it.
- The hinge: never let the raft boilOnce the egg whites go in, stir until the liquid clouds and just trembles, then move it off direct heat and hold it at a bare simmer for 15 minutes. A rolling boil shreds the coagulated raft and drives the sediment back through the stock, and no amount of straining afterwards will recover clarity.
- Calf's foot and knuckleThese are the gelatin source. A butcher will order a calf's foot with notice; split pig's trotters plus a veal knuckle give a comparable set. Ask for the bones sawn, not whole, so the collagen has more surface exposed.
- A glass of wineIn Victorian cookery books a "glass" of wine is roughly a wineglass of the period, about 2 fl oz — call it a scant quarter-cup. It is a seasoning here, not a liquid measure.
- Reduction and the set testTwo quarts reduced to rather less than a quart is the target. Before clarifying, chill a spoonful on a saucer in the fridge for ten minutes: it should be firmly rubbery, not merely syrupy. If it is soft, reduce further, because clarification will not thicken it.
- Skimming the fatChill the strained stock overnight. The fat lifts off as a solid cap, and the cloudy sediment settles at the bottom of the basin — cut that layer away too. Wipe the surface with a cloth wrung out in hot water to take the last film.
- StrainingA jelly-bag is a conical flannel or muslin sleeve. Scald it first, hang it, and let gravity do the work; squeezing forces solids through. A double layer of damp muslin in a sieve is the modern equivalent, and the first pass can be discarded back through the bag if it runs cloudy.
- The mouldRinsing rather than oiling is correct for a clear jelly — oil clouds the surface. To turn out, dip the mould to the rim in hot water for a count of five, no longer, or the outer layer melts.
- Timing and yieldThe stated "four or five hours" most likely covers the boiling and clarifying rather than the setting, though the book does not say; allow overnight in the fridge for the mould, and longer again if you are setting prawns or game in layers. The finished quantity is given as about 2½ pints — roughly 1.4 litres, enough to line and fill a large mould with some left for chopped garnish.
Aspic belongs to the elaborate cold table of nineteenth-century service, where a clear amber jelly displayed the cook's technical control as plainly as a soufflé did: it proved the stock had been drawn slowly, skimmed diligently and clarified without a single boil. The name is generally traced to the French aspic, and the same word for the asp has encouraged centuries of speculation about coiled moulds and serpent colouring, none of it firmly documented. Before commercial powdered gelatine became cheap and reliable, every ounce of set had to come from bone, skin and feet, which is why calves' feet and veal knuckles appear so often in Victorian household books and why an aspic was reckoned an expensive dish — Cassell's puts it at 2s. 6d., a real sum for what is essentially flavoured water. Its function was practical as well as decorative: sealed under jelly, cold cutlets, poultry and the remains of game kept longer and looked deliberate rather than left over.