Aspic Jelly
Carrot, Onion, Celery} 2 tablespoons each, cut in cubes 2 sprigs parsley 2 sprigs thyme 1 sprig savory 2 cloves 1/2 teaspoon peppercorns 1 bay leaf 7/8 cup white or Madeira wine 1 box gelatine 1 quart White Stock for vegetables and white meat, or 1 quart Brown Stock for dark meat Juice 1 lemon Whites 3 eggs Aspic jelly is always made with meat stock, and is principally used in elaborate entrees where fish, chicken, game, or vegetables are to be served moulded in jelly. In making Aspic Jelly, use as much liquid as the pan which is to contain moulded dish will hold.
Put vegetables, seasonings, and wine in a saucepan; cook eight minutes, and strain, reserving liquid. Add gelatine to stock, then add lemon juice and strained liquid. Season with salt and cayenne and whites of eggs slightly beaten. Add slowly to remaining mixture, stirring constantly until boiling-point is reached. Place on back of range and let stand thirty minutes. Strain through a double cheese-cloth placed over a fine wire strainer, or through a jelly bag.
A classic clarified savoury jelly, built on stock rather than fruit juice. The whole thing hinges on the egg-white clarification, so read that step before you start heating anything.
- The clarification is the recipeThe slightly beaten egg whites must go into a cool or barely warm stock and be stirred constantly as it comes to a boil; they coagulate into a raft that traps the cloudiness. If you add them to hot liquid they set in threads and the jelly stays murky.
- "A box of gelatine"A period box held about 1 ounce of granulated gelatine, the equivalent of four modern 1/4-oz envelopes, or roughly 3 tablespoons. That is a firm set for the quart of stock plus wine here, which is what you want in something to be unmoulded and sliced.
- Soften the gelatineThe instruction to "add gelatine to stock" assumes you sprinkle it over cold stock and let it swell for five minutes before any heat is applied. Granulated gelatine dropped into hot liquid clumps.
- 7/8 cupFourteen tablespoons, or one cup less two tablespoons. Madeira gives the darker, rounder flavour suited to brown stock; a dry white is better with fish, chicken or vegetables.
- "Back of the range"On a coal range this was the coolest spot, where the pan sat below a simmer. Modern equivalent: pull the pan off the heat entirely, or hold it on the lowest setting, and let it stand undisturbed thirty minutes so the raft firms up.
- StrainingLadle gently through a double thickness of cheesecloth over a fine sieve, and never press or stir the raft. Let it drip; if the first run is cloudy, pour it back through the same cloth, which by then is doing most of the filtering.
- The stock matters more than the seasoningOnly a well-made, gelatine-rich stock will taste of anything once chilled, since cold blunts salt and aromatics. Season the finished liquid a shade more assertively than you would a hot soup, and taste after it has cooled a spoonful on a saucer.
- Yield and settingRoughly a quart of clear jelly, a little more or less depending on how much the raft absorbs. Chill at least four hours, or overnight for anything to be turned out of a mould; to unmould, dip the mould briefly in warm water and invert.
- Fitting the mouldThe note about using "as much liquid as the pan will hold" means scale the whole formula to your mould, keeping the same proportion of gelatine to liquid. Measure the mould's capacity with water first.