No. 2421

Aspic of Veal with Macedoine Artichokes—Kernel

Aspic de Veau aux Artichauts Macedoine

Braise a kernel of veal after larding the inside parts with veal udder, ham and truffles; put it in an oval mold to cool, pressing down well. Unmold, and cut it into slices. Decorate a large mold with vegetables, coat it by pouring in some jelly and turning the mold so that the jelly covers the vegetables, then pour in more jelly to have a quarter of an inch in thickness at the bottom and lay the sliced kernel over, having reformed it to its original shape, then fill up entirely with slightly cool jelly. When perfectly cold unmold on a dish and surround the meat with chopped jelly, lay on top some artichoke bottoms filled with macedoine (No. 2650) and decorate the summit with three Bellevue hatelets (No. 2526).

← No. 2420 Aspic of Tongue a la Picquart The Cold Service No. 2422 Aspics with Shrimps—Small →

For the Modern Kitchen

This is a showpiece from the cold buffet, and it is really three preparations assembled: a braised, larded veal cushion; a clear aspic jelly; and a garnish of artichoke bottoms. Ranhofer assumes you have the jelly and the macedoine already made from elsewhere in the book.

Kernel of vealThe noix de veau — the cushion or top round from the inside of the leg, a solid boneless muscle. Ask a butcher for veal top round in one piece; it holds its shape under pressure, which is the whole point here.
Veal udderTétine de veau was used as a larding and enriching fat in nineteenth-century professional kitchens and is hard to find outside specialist butchers today. Fresh pork fatback cut into lardons does the same job of keeping the interior moist.
Larding the insideThe ham, truffle and fat are drawn through the meat with a larding needle so the slices show a pattern in cross-section. Cut the strips a scant quarter inch square and chill them firm before threading, or they tear.
Braising temperatureA covered braise in a 300–325F oven, barely trembling, until the meat is tender but still sliceable — an internal temperature around 160F. Boiling it hard will shred the grain and the slices will fall apart in the mold.
Pressing to coolWeight the meat in the oval mold as it cools, ideally overnight in the refrigerator. This compacts the fibres so the slices hold together when they are reassembled inside the jelly.
The jellyRanhofer's aspic is a clarified veal and calf's-foot stock. A modern equivalent is a well-reduced clarified stock set with powdered gelatin — roughly 1 to 2 teaspoons per cup depending on how much gelatin the stock already carries, firm enough to unmold cleanly but not rubbery. Test a spoonful on a cold saucer before committing.
Lining the moldThe hinge of the whole dish. The mold must be thoroughly chilled and the jelly barely liquid — around 70F, syrupy — so it sets on contact as you roll it round the walls. Warm jelly poured over the decoration will float it and slide off the sides.
Hatelets and macedoineHatelets are ornamental silver skewers, purely decorative, threaded with truffle and crayfish or cockscombs; they are safe to omit. The macedoine is simply diced carrot, turnip, green beans and peas, cooked separately and bound with mayonnaise or a little jelly.
Yield and serviceA mold on this scale would likely serve a dozen or more as part of a cold table. Unmold by dipping the mold to the rim in warm water for a count of ten, no longer, and inverting onto a chilled dish.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer published The Epicurean in 1894 after some three decades as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and the cold service section is where the book is most plainly a record of restaurant display rather than home cooking. Elaborate aspics of this kind descend from the pièces montées of Carême's generation, when a clear, firm jelly was proof of a kitchen's stockpot and its patience: the gelatin came from calves' feet and veal bones simmered for the better part of a day, then clarified with egg white until it read like glass. Larding a veal cushion with ham and truffle so that each slice shows a worked pattern belongs to the same aesthetic — the labour is meant to be visible on the plate. The cross-reference numbers scattered through the instruction are characteristic of the book, which functions less as a set of standalone recipes than as a professional system in which garnishes, jellies and skewers are all built elsewhere and drawn together at the moment of assembly.