Aspic Jelly

Editor's Note-This post is best read while listening to King Crimson's Lark Tongues in Aspic. I included the 1972 version of Part 1, with a great version of Part 2 from 1982.

Lynn Loustalot
Unilever Food Solutions

Aspic is a dish in which ingredients are set into a gelatine made from a meat stock or consommé.

When cooled, stock made from meat congeals because of the natural gelatin found in the meat. The stock can be clarified with egg whites, and then filled and flavored just before the aspic sets. Almost any type of food can be set into aspics. Most common are meat pieces, fruits, or vegetables. Aspics are usually served on cold plates so that the gel will not melt before being eaten. A meat jelly that includes cream is called a chaud-froid.

Pig Trotters in Aspic

Nearly any type of meat can be used to make the gelatin: pork, beef, veal, chicken, or even fish. The aspic may need additional gelatin in order to set properly. Veal stock provides a great deal of gelatin; in making stock, veal is often included with other meat for that reason. Fish consommés usually have too little natural gelatin, so the fish stock may be double-cooked or supplemented. Since fish gelatin melts at a lower temperature than gelatins of other meats, fish aspic is more delicate and melts more readily in the mouth.

History

Historically meat jellies were made before fruit and vegetable jellies. By the Middle Ages at the latest, cooks had discovered that a thickened meat broth could be made into a jelly and that the jelly could seal cooked meat from the air and therefore keep it from spoiling. A detailed recipe for aspic is found in Le Viandier, written in around 1375. Gelatin is also found in cartilage.

Aspic is a dish in which ingredients are set into a gelatine from a meat stock or consume. When cooled, stock made from meat congeals because of the natural gelatin found in the meat's bones, cartilage, and fat.

Nearly any type of meat stock can be used to make the gelatin, veal, pork, beef, chicken or fish. If his customer is interested in making an aspic, he can add either powdered or sheet gelatin to our prepared stock according to the directions on the gelatin. The dish is served cold so the aspic does not melt.