25.3 Aspic

Where aspic came from

Aspic is a savory jelly made by setting a well-flavored stock with gelatin. Meat aspics came before jellies flavored with fruit or vegetables. No later than the Middle Ages, cooks had found that a thickened meat broth could be turned into a jelly, and Le Viandier, written around 1375, gives a full recipe.

In the early 1800s, the French chef Marie-Antoine Carême created chaud-froid, French for "hot cold": a dish cooked hot but eaten cold. Aspic served as a chaud-froid sauce on cold fish and poultry, adding moisture and flavor, and Carême invented many kinds of aspic. In the United States, aspic became prominent in the early 1900s and was a dinner staple by the 1950s. During the Second World War, when rationing made meat scarce, tomato aspic filled the gap.

What aspic is used for

Aspic is also called aspic gelée or aspic jelly. It can be clear (white aspic) or any shade of amber. It does three jobs: it shields food from the air so it does not dry out, it adds flavor, and it decorates.

In the mouth, the cold jelly melts back into a sauce. Its uses:

• The early garde mangers in France used it to make a chemise (a "shirt"), a coat of aspic on a serving platter.
• It coats terrines, pâtés and galantines.
• It binds headcheese.
• Cut into shapes, it garnishes deli meats and pâtés.
• Food dipped in it gets a glossy, lacquered finish, which is why it is used to glaze dishes for cooking competitions.

There are three kinds:

• Delicate aspic is soft.
• Sliceable aspic is firmer and must be set in a terrine or an aspic mold.
• Inedible aspic is for decoration only, never for eating.

Aspic and chaud-froid

Aspic is gelatin added to a flavorful stock. Chaud-froid is gelatin added to a warm sauce such as béchamel, demi-glace or velouté.

• Clarify the stock the way you would for a consommé, so the aspic is not cloudy.
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• Soften (bloom) powdered gelatin in cool water, then warm it until the granules melt away.
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• Add the gelatin to the warm stock, in the amount the job calls for (see the table).
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• Cool it over an ice bath until it thickens. Aspic left to set can be cut up as a garnish, or warmed again later to coat a platter or a cold pâté.

How gelatin sets is explained in the chapter on heat. see chapter 7: Hydrocolloids

Building a cold platter

Cut the terrine or galantine into slices of equal size, and keep back one piece whole: the grosse pièce, the centerpiece of the platter. Coat the slices and the grosse pièce in aspic. Lay the slices in an overlapping line leading from the grosse pièce, so the eye travels to the center.

Decorate the platter first:

• Set it level and cold.
• Brush on a little aspic and stick the garnish to it.
• Pour over aspic that has cooled slightly.
• Let the jelly firm up before you set the grosse pièce and the slices on top.
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An aspic made from meat or fish stock is a food of animal origin, and so a potentially hazardous food. Keep it, and the dishes it coats, at 4°C (39°F) or colder.