Aspic Jelly
1 pound of uncooked beef I large tablespoonful of A knuckle of veal ¼ pound of bacon 1 slice of turnip 1 slice of parsnip 2 cloves I blade of mace A chip of lemon rind 2 quarts of water butter I onion 1/2 carrot A stalk of celery 6 pepper-corns 3 whole allspice 1 tablespoonful of Wor- Salt to taste cestershire sauce Put the bacon in the bottom of a soup kettle, let it brown, then add the onion cut in slices; stir until a nice brown; then add the butter, and, when hot, the beef; cover the kettle and let it simmer until a thick brown glaze is formed in the bottom of the kettle; then add the veal and the water, and simmer gently for two hours. Now add the vegetables, Worcestershire sauce, spices, and lemon rind, and simmer two hours longer. When done, it should be reduced one-half. Strain and clarify the same as Bouillon. Turn into a square mould or the small aspic jelly moulds. If you use a large mould, cut the jelly into blocks.
This is used as a garnish for Beef à la Mode, Boned Turkey, or any other cold meat dish.
A meat stock reduced, clarified and set on its own gelatin, with no added leaf or powder. Everything depends on the veal knuckle and on keeping the pot at a bare tremble.
- The hinge: never let it boilA rolling boil emulsifies fat and drives fine particles into the liquid, and no amount of clarifying will bring back a clear jelly. Hold it at a lazy shiver, barely a bubble breaking, for the full four hours.
- The knuckle is the gelatinA veal knuckle is the joint end of the leg, sawn across; ask a butcher, or substitute two to three pounds of split veal or beef marrow bones plus a pig's trotter. Without collagen-rich bone the stock will reduce to something flavourful that never sets.
- Test the set before you mouldChill a tablespoon of the finished stock on a saucer in the refrigerator for ten minutes. It should be firm enough to hold a fingerprint; if it only thickens, reduce further, or bloom and stir in gelatin at roughly one envelope per pint.
- QuantitiesTwo quarts of water reduced by half yields about a quart of jelly, enough to fill a small square tin or a dozen individual moulds. Turned out and cut into blocks or chopped, that is garnish for two or three cold platters.
- ClarifyingThe bouillon reference almost certainly points to the standard egg-white raft: whisk two lightly beaten whites with their crushed shells into the cold, degreased stock, bring it slowly to the point of trembling without stirring once the raft forms, hold ten minutes, then ladle through a cloth-lined sieve.
- Degrease coldChill the strained stock overnight and lift the fat cap off in one disc. Skimming hot leaves enough fat behind to cloud the finished jelly and dull its surface.
- BaconThe bacon functions here as a browning medium rather than a flavour in its own right. Unsmoked salt pork or pancetta keeps the background quiet; heavily smoked bacon will dominate the whole quart.
- SeasoningSalt to taste means salt at the end, after reduction. Two quarts going down to one concentrates whatever went in at the start, and the Worcestershire sauce contributes salt of its own.
- UnmouldingDip the mould in hot water for three or four seconds only, then invert onto a chilled plate. Longer and the outer face melts to a slick that will not hold a clean edge.
Aspic belongs to the cold buffet, a form long established in French and English cookery, where a clear, firm meat jelly was proof of a kitchen's competence: it could not be faked, since it demanded long gentle extraction, a careful skim and a clean raft. The name is generally traced to French aspic, and the classic explanation, that it refers to the snake of the same name because the jelly glistens like its skin, is traditional rather than documented. Its use in warm weather is practical rather than decorative. Before mechanical refrigeration was common in homes, summer meals leaned on dishes cooked once, in the cool of the morning or the night before, then served cold; chopped aspic scattered round a boned turkey or a beef a la mode did the work that a hot sauce would do in winter, and made the platter look deliberate.