Okay, so just to clarify: according to Julia, aspic is the jellied stock that contains various items such as eggs and meat and vegetables. It’s a kind of composed salad.
Gelée is the jellified stock that you make aspic with.
Here’s what Julia says (in Mastering the Art of French Cooking) about gelée, or “homemade jellied stock”:
Calf’s feet and veal knuckles contain enough natural gelatin to make a stock jell by itself; pork rind helps the process. They are added to simmer with any of the stocks on pages 107 to 100 and will provide about 3 quarts of jelly.
Use either 2 calf’s feet OR 1 pound cracked veal knuckles AND 1/4 pound fresh or salt pork rind.
What is pork rind? I don’t even know! Ah, it is the skin of a pig. Thank you, Wikipedia.
OK, she says you can also use commercial gelatin… which I think I will do to start. I don’t happen to have a good source right at the moment for veal knuckles and pig skin. However, I do happen to have a whole canister of powdered gelatin because I use it in Kate’s homemade baby formula (gelatin helps babies digest cow’s milk).
Julia says:
One envelope of powdered American gelatin (1/4 ounce) is the equivalent of 4 sheets of French gelatin.
How to Use Powdered Gelatin:
Sprinkle 1 envelope of powdered gelatin into 1/4 to 1/2 cup of cold stock and let it soften for 3 to 4 minutes. Then blend it into the rest of the stock (use 1 envelope per 2 cups of stock) and stir over moderate heat for several minutes until the gelatin has completely dissolved and the liquid is absolutely free of granules.How to Use Sheet Gelatin:
If you are living in France (hello, Louisa!), you will usually buy gelatin in sheets. Soak the sheets in cold water for about 10 minutes, until they are soft. Drain them, then stir them in the stock over gentle heat until the gelatin has completely dissolved.
Julia says you can add wine flavoring (port, Madeira, or cognac). We won’t be doing that since we are making baby food.
She also says it is imperative that you test your jelly:
Testing Jellies
Always test out a jelly before using it; the few minutes you spend can save you from disaster. Pour 1/2 inch of jelly into a chilled saucer and refrigerate it for about 10 minutes until it has set. Then break it up with a fork and let it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes. For aspics its broken lumps should stand alone, but not be rubbery. If the jelly is too hard, add unjellied stock and test again. If the jelly is too soft, add more gelatin and test again.
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for that, we have geletin sheets here, as Julia said – I have some in my cupboard. I think I may buy the book, crazy that, I am sure there are many good french cookbooks here in France!!!
Calf’s feet are for sale in the supermarket here – also whole pig’s heads. I haven’t summoned up the courage to buy one yet, but the feet are no problem, just put in the stock pot – the broth comes out almost solid when you pour it out of the cooking pot! yummy.
I am going to try to photo some aspic things at the market next week. They are gorgeous.
happy jellying
You are so lucky!
I asked my butcher (at the Whole Foods) for chicken feet the other day. He said he’d get some for me by Saturday. Americans would FLIP OUT if they saw pigs heads at the market.
I love Mastering the Art of French Cooking because it really dumbs it down for you. However, all the measurements are in ounces and cups since it is written for Americans.
Yeah, since using NT I’ve bought myself a little set of measuring cups – I like using them, but its difficult when it says ’2 cups of butter’ – I always just plop in a wedge and hope for the best, I should wait for it to get down to room temperature I guess!
The European way is infinitely more accurate in the end, but we have ounces and metric – just to be even more confusing. I learnt inches AND centimetres at school – so I am used to the conversion. Everything in England has changed to metric except miles and pints of beer!!!! Thank goodness I didn’t have to learn shillings and pence (that was converted at end of the 1960′s), I just have the English pound and euros to deal with now.
Larousse Gastronomique: The World’s Greatest Cookery Encyclopedia (Larousse) by Prosper Montagne (Author) http://www.amazon.com/Larousse-Gastronomique-Recipe-Collection/dp/0600611582/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197624602&sr=8-1or
This is the book I think I am going to go for actually – for french cookery, its a bit weighty, but I am finding daily obscure things here that I would like to make, and I am sure this will show me how – it was originally published in French!!!
This actually is the latest cookbook I have just ordered, on British food, it sounds very exciting!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nose-Tail-Eating-British-Cooking/dp/0747572577/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2D06E6MQZ0BES&colid=UAWJSB5U65W8
My sister ate at St. Johns restaurant, where the book comes from and she said it was out of this world! Regarding British food: it is actually one of the great cuisines of the world, but is very, very unfashionable at the moment because it is very fatty, very milky, full of lard, very meaty (mostly organ cooking) and very hearty. There is not a vegetable in sight – apart from turnips. but it is slowly making a come back, thank goodness!
I’ve heard that “I Know How To Cook” (recently translated to English) is what French girls get to start their cooking lives (where we get Better Homes and Gardens, I guess? or Joy of Cooking). Link is here but I’m not sure how to make it proper link format, I’ve forgotten all my HTML. http://www.amazon.com/Know-How-Cook-Ginette-Mathiot/dp/071485736X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1309851021&sr=8-1
Today I have a day off, time to check out the local butcher and baker here in the little German town we’ve moved to!
The Larousse is one I have always wanted and will buy one day. I used it a lot when I was researching for my cookbook (I checked it out from the library).
I heard about Nose to Tail before and it was brought up again the other night at our WAP chapter Xmas party. I want more recipes for organ meats so I’d like to get a copy of that as well.
Also, I think I will start buying meat directly from the farmer instead of the butcher — i.e. order half a cow and store it in the freezer in the garage.
I have always loved British food!
I never knew gelatin helped babies digest cow’s milk. Good to know!!
What do you do with the gellee? How do you use it? I’m only familiar with aspic in terms of using it for terrines.
Will be trying to find some gelatin….could you imagine a whole pig’s head in the grocery store!?!? too funny, but I wish we could get it!
I still have trouble getting my stock to gel!
Hi LeahS,
Use less water, and your stock will definitely gel. Make sure you are also using bones rich in gelatin, like the head, feet, nose, ect.
I have the strangest issue with mine in that I’ve never had any trouble getting my stock to gel until I started adding apple cider vinegar as so many people recommend. Every time I do it won’t gel so I’ve quit. I’ve never had a batch with out ACV not gel… It makes no sense to me
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