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Jelly, Stock For
Stock for jellies may be made either of calf's foot, ox-heel, or the shank-bones of mutton. In all these the process--long and gentle stewing--is the same. The quantity of water required is as follows:--Calf's Foot Stock--Procure two calf's feet from the butcher. Lay them in a saucepan of scalding hot water for three or four minutes, then scrape off the hair with the back of a knife. Divide them into halves, knock off the hoofs, remove the fat from between the toes, wash in two or three waters, and put them into a saucepan with two quarts of cold water. Bring them slowly to a boil, remove the scum as it rises, assist it to rise by throwing in a few drops of cold water when the liquid is on the point of boiling, and simmer gently for five or six hours, until the stock is reduced fully one-half. Strain it, and put it aside until cold. Before using it, remove the fat from it, with an iron spoon which has been dipped into boiling water. When as much fat as possible has been taken off, a cloth dipped in hot water and squeezed dry should be dabbed over the jelly, which should then be lightly dried. Ox-heel Stock--Take two heels, scalded, but unboiled, remove the fat from between the claws, and wash them thoroughly in lukewarm water. Put them into a saucepan with three quarts of cold water. Bring this to a boil, remove the scum carefully, and simmer gently for seven or eight hours, or until the liquid is reduced one-half. Strain and pour off the stock, and set it aside to cool. Shank-bones of Mutton--Wash and trim a dozen shank-bones of mutton. Pour over them three pints of water, and simmer gently for seven or eight hours until the liquid is reduced to a pint. The stock for jellies should always be made the day before it is wanted, so that the fat and sediment may be effectually removed. Probable cost, calf's feet, 1s. each; ox-heel, 6d. each; shank-bones, 3d. or 4d. per dozen, when they are to be bought. The butchers, however, very frequently weigh them with the leg.
This is a base preparation rather than a finished dish: a gelatine-rich stock that later gets flavoured, sweetened, clarified and moulded. Everything depends on extracting collagen slowly without agitating the pot.
- The hinge: never let it boilThe hinge: keep it below a boil once it is scummed -- The recipe brings the pot slowly to a boil to raise the scum, but after that the liquid should barely tremble. A rolling boil emulsifies the fat and drives fine particles into suspension, and later clarifying with egg white is harder work on a stock that has been boiled hard.
- Imperial measuresCassell's quart is 40 fl oz and its pint 20 fl oz, so "two quarts" is about 2.4 US quarts and the mutton version's three pints is roughly 1.8 US quarts. Reducing by half matters more than the starting number.
- Sourcing the feetCalf's feet and ox heel (the whole cow's foot, sold split) are butcher's-order items now, usually cleaned and sawn already, which removes the scalding and hair-scraping step. Ask for them split lengthwise so the marrow and joint capsules open to the water.
- Substitutes that workPig's trotters give a comparable set with a slightly stronger flavour and are far easier to buy. Mutton shanks, the third option here, are the weakest setter of the three, which is why the recipe wants twelve bones for a single pint.
- Setting strength is variableNo two batches gel alike. Chill a teaspoonful on a cold saucer for ten minutes before committing the stock to a mould; if it only thickens rather than sets, reduce further or reinforce with leaf gelatine.
- DegreasingThe hot-spoon and damp-cloth routine is for stock already set firm and cold. Modern practice is simpler: refrigerate overnight and lift off the solid fat cap in one piece, then blot the surface with a wet paper towel.
- YieldTwo calf's feet in 2 quarts of water reduced by half gives roughly a quart of stock, enough for one large moulded jelly. Held under its fat cap it keeps three or four days refrigerated and freezes well.
- PricesThe costs are pre-decimal: 1s. is a shilling, 6d. sixpence, both from a period when a labourer's weekly wage was measured in shillings. Shank bones at 3d. a dozen were essentially scrap.
Calf's-foot jelly was one of the most persistent items in the nineteenth-century sickroom as well as the dessert course, valued as a supposedly restorative food that an invalid could swallow when nothing else would stay down. Making it was an all-day job, which is why the spread of reliable commercial gelatine in packets is often said to have shifted household cookery; books of this period sometimes print both methods side by side, the long-stewed foot for cooks who wanted the older flavour and body, the packet for everyone else. In Cassell's the entry appears under the heading "Jelly, Stock For", in the alphabetical arrangement of a cookery dictionary, and it is a technique to be learned once and then applied to whatever the jelly is to taste of, whether lemon, wine, or orange. The instruction to make the stock the day before is not fussiness but the only practical way to remove fat from a liquid that turns solid when cold.