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Jelly for Pies, to Clarify
Jelly for pies should be made bright and clear in the same way as calf's foot jelly--that is, it should be allowed to get cold, and then every particle of fat should be removed, the sediment which settles at the bottom of the pan being left undisturbed, and the jelly should be mixed thoroughly, when cold, with the whites and shells of eggs, two eggs being used for every pint of jelly. The contents of the saucepan must not be stirred after they once begin to heat, and they must boil a few minutes, and afterwards stand by the side of the fire for a few minutes, to settle, before the scum is removed, and the jelly strained. If the meat be slowly boiled, jelly will seldom require clarifying with white of egg, but it should always be made the day before it is wanted, so that the fat and sediment may be effectually removed. Time, ten minutes to boil the jelly, and a quarter of an hour to let it settle.
This is a method rather than a dish: the clarifying of meat stock jelly for pouring into raised pies and cold pies. It assumes you already have a well-set stock from bones and trotters.
- The hinge: do not stir once it heatsThe egg white coagulates into a raft that traps the cloudy particles. Stirring after the pan begins to warm breaks that raft and the sediment goes straight back into suspension. Whisk the whites and crushed shells into the cold jelly thoroughly, then leave the pan alone.
- Pint and egg ratioCassell's is a British book, so a pint is 20 fl oz (about 570 ml), not 16. Two whites per imperial pint is generous by modern standards; one white plus its crushed shell per pint clarifies a reasonably clean stock.
- "Cold" means setThe jelly should be chilled solid overnight so the fat lifts off as a disc and the sediment stays behind at the bottom of the pan. Discard the bottom half-inch of murky jelly with the sediment rather than trying to salvage it.
- Heat, not a rolling boilBring it up slowly over low heat. "Boil a few minutes" here means a bare simmer where the raft rises and sits; a hard boil shreds it. Ten minutes of gentle simmering, then a quarter hour off the direct heat to settle, is exactly right.
- StrainingLadle carefully through a scalded muslin-lined sieve or jelly bag, without pressing, and let it drip. Pour the first cloudy runnings back through if necessary. Do not force it with a spoon.
- The better first stepThe advice that slowly boiled meat rarely needs clarifying is sound and still the professional approach. Keep the stock at a bare tremble from the start, skim often, and never let it gallop; you may not need the egg raft at all.
- Setting strengthTest before use by chilling a teaspoonful on a cold saucer. It should set firm enough to hold a clean cut, since pie jelly must support itself when the crust is sliced. If it is slack, reduce it further before clarifying, not after.
- Use and storagePour the clarified jelly, just warm and liquid, through the hole in the pie lid once the pie is fully cold. Keep the finished jelly refrigerated and use within two or three days; it is a low-acid meat stock and spoils as readily as any other.
Raised pies of pork, veal or game were baked in a stiff hot-water crust and inevitably shrank away from their pastry as they cooled, leaving a gap that was filled with a savoury jelly made from the same bones and trotters as the filling. That jelly did two jobs: it excluded air, which helped the pie keep, and it gave the cold slice its glossy set. Clarifying with beaten egg white and crushed shell is the same raft technique used for consomme and for the sweet calf's-foot jellies of the period, and Cassell's cross-reference to calf's foot jelly reflects a kitchen where gelatine was commonly rendered from butcher's bones and feet rather than bought ready-made. The instruction to make it the day before is the practical heart of the entry: standing overnight in a cold larder does much of the clarifying work by itself, which is why the book insists on it.