Home › Sandwiches › Aspics of Foie Gras
Aspics of Foie Gras
Prepare some very small fluted timbale molds by dusting with powdered yolk of a hard boiled egg a little liquid aspic poured into the molds will cause it to adhere. In the bottoms press a tiny circle cut from the white of the egg. To the contents of a small jar of pate de foie gras, add a tablespoonful of lemon juice and mix it gradually with half pint of partly liquid aspic. Whip until it is light and partly firm, then fill the molds. Serve one to each person (as your fancy may please you), with toasted crackers or wafers.
A late-Victorian cold canapé that depends entirely on catching the aspic at the right stage of setting. Everything else is assembly.
- The hinge: "partly liquid aspic"The aspic must be cooled to the syrupy stage — thick enough to hold a trail from the whisk, still pourable. Too warm and the whipped mixture will separate and weep; too cold and it seizes into lumps before it reaches the molds. Set the bowl over ice water and work quickly.
- Aspic itselfThe book assumes a clarified, well-gelled meat or poultry stock kept on hand. A modern equivalent is a strong chicken or veal stock clarified with egg white and stiffened with gelatin — roughly 1 envelope (about 2 1/4 tsp) per cup for a jelly firm enough to unmold.
- Half a pintOne cup (8 fl oz). It is generous against a small jar of pâté; if the mixture tastes thin, hold back a couple of tablespoons.
- A small jar of pâté de foie grasA small jar of pâté de foie gras -- Imported tins and jars of the period were small, on the order of a few ounces. Any smooth, spreadable foie gras or duck liver mousse at that weight works; a coarse country pâté will not whip smooth.
- Timbale moldsSmall fluted metal molds of about 2 to 3 tablespoons capacity. Espresso cups, mini brioche tins or a silicone mini-muffin tray substitute; the flutes are decorative, not structural.
- The egg liningSieved hard-boiled yolk dusted over a film of aspic gives a gold-speckled coat, and the disc of white in the base becomes the medallion on top once turned out. Chill the lined molds until firm before filling or the decoration slides.
- UnmoldingChill at least 3 hours. Dip each mold in warm water for two or three seconds only and turn out onto the cracker or a chilled plate — longer and the yolk coating melts away.
- Yield and servingThe quantities suggest something in the region of half a dozen to eight small molds; the recipe specifies one per person, as a first course or a passed cold savoury. Serve straight from the refrigerator, since aspic slumps quickly at room temperature.
Aspic work of this kind was a showpiece of the cold table in the decades around 1900, when clear jelly was made from scratch out of calves' feet or veal bones and its brilliance was a measure of the cook's skill. Foie gras reached American kitchens largely as imported jars and tins, Strasbourg being among the names commonly seen on the label — and a single small jar stretched across a whole set of molds was exactly the kind of economy a household book liked to demonstrate: a luxury ingredient made to serve a table. Grouping the dish with sandwiches reflects period usage, where sandwiches, canapés and small cold savouries on toast or wafers all belonged to the same category of things handed round at receptions, card parties and late suppers rather than served seated.