The spirit of cookery

Jellies flavoured with fruit juices and aromatic herbs, subacidulous, faintly sweet, and well cooled, serve as agreeable, easily-digestible refections, by which dinners are agreeably prolonged, and the gustatory organs are cooled and amused at the same time. Such jellies belong to the ornamental and gustatory class of dishes in French termed gelees de gout. They may, of course, not contain any meaty flavour, no bouillon, no meat extract, no glace. It is a moot question whether the name aspic applies to the savoury jelly only, or also to the meat which may be enclosed in it, such as fillets of fowl, game, or fish, hard eggs, mushrooms and truffles. Dumas terms the aspic a cold entree, while allowing that the great cooks had ruled that there were no cold entries, which is the same as to say that they or their employers would not permit any such on their bills of fare. Some are said by Dumas to elect that the aspics should be served with the roasts, while he prefers them to follow the roasts. For ourselves, we agree with the French authorities, who maintain that an aspic has no place at a dinner, but belongs strictly to the series of cold dishes to be used at suppers, breakfasts, and other cold collations. We therefore hold that an aspic chaud such as is described by some authors is a misnomer for a compound gelatiniferous sauce, which, like the ancient glace, may serve as base for great and small ragouts, but can never take an independent place at table. We abstain from giving the recipe for the aspic chaud* firstly, because its execution takes five hours at least ; secondly, because its complication mocks Apician cookery ; thirdly, because the product has to be passed twice through a napkin ; and, fourthly, because it is inferior withal to ragout sauces produced by direct methods. Grand Aspic. It is necessary for large establishments, such as hotel kitchens, to have at hand a general reserve aspic, to be used for the immediate production of special great and little aspics. It is called grand for the same reasons that certain sauces are called grand, namely, because it represents a general base, produced on a large scale, to be divided into parts to receive separate specialization from additions mainly. The aspic, then, has for its basis a savoury coulis, and in this respect does not differ from the sauces. Each quart requires to contain an ounce of gelatine. The gelatine may be made from calf's feet, and this has to be clarified by white of egg, or it may be supplied directly as isinglass, the pure form of glass-like gelatine now sold in trade. The aspic may be coloured red by beetroot or cochineal, or brown by brown gravy or caramel. Its own colour is, however, quite acceptable. ThThe spices are best applied as tinctures. Isinglass also has to be clarified when it is to be used for sweet jellies. The most simple mode of doing this is by solution and skimming ; if this be not sufficient, the fining by white of egg becomes necessary. [illustration: Preparation of Sugar Syrup for Jellies]