Hilda's diary of a Cape housekeeper

It is necessary that the stock used for an aspic should be very strong, consequently it will be found better to clear it with raw meat instead of the white of egg, as the meat always adds more flavour than it takes away in the process of clearing. No turnip should ever be boiled in the stock of which an aspic is made, as it is apt to cause it to turn sour. All vegetables have this tendency in some degree, but none to the same extent as the turnip. Savoury Meat Jelly (Mrs. Mitchison’s). — ^ packet of gelatine, pints of water, lbs. shin of beef or gravy. I carrot. I onion. A little celery. A blade of mace. 20 peppercorns. A few sweet herbs. A teaspoonful of salt. Dec. ASPIC JELLY Three hard-boiled eggs. Any remains of cold chicken or lamb. Cut up the meat over-night into pieces an inch square, put into a saucepan with a quart of water, bring it slowly to a boil, and skim ; then add vegetables and salt and simmer for five hours, when the liquid will be reduced to one pint ; if it be less, add a little water ; strain into a basin. Next day remove the fat; soak half a packet of gelatine, or if the weather is hot a little more, in a pint of cold water. Boil up the stock, and when the gelatine has soaked put into the boiling stock, then pour into a basin to cool ; flavour with a little tomato sauce, lemon, or Worcester sauce. Pour a little of this jelly into a mould, and when it is set put some slices of hard-boiled eggs on it, fill up with more jelly and more hard-boiled egg, pieces of veal, ham, or sausage, slices of tomato, if in season, or beetroot, adding jelly in alternate layers, and finishing up with jelly. Aspic. — For aspic (Mrs. Mitchison’s recipe), dissolve a whole quart packet of gelatine in the stock prepared as in former recipe for “ meat jelly,” first soaking it in cold water, and then pouring the boiling stock on to the gelatine and strain. (I find an ordinary thin glass-cloth, washed and dipped in boiling water and tied to the legs of a kitchen chair turned over on the hearth, the best way for straining or clarifying jelly.) The next day skim carefully every particle of fat, and clear the stock with raw meat — half-a-pound of gravy-beef shred fine. Put it in the saucepan with the stock and toss over the fire till a white scum or froth begins to rise to the surface, and as it is on the point of boiling leave off at once (it is a mistake to stir too long). Let it remain on the fire until it boils and bubbles, ASPIC Dec. then draw aside, place the lid on the saucepan, just leaving a crack for the steam to escape ; let it stand in a warm place for twenty minutes, then pour through the cloth or serviette tied at each corner to the leg of a kitchen chair. If these instructions are carefully observed it will run clear after two or three times passing through the bag or cloth. If by accident it should not be clear, boil up again and let it stand as before ; it is sure to become bright. Having cleared the stock, arrange the aspic in an ornamental design. Place a tin mould in a basin and pack it round with ice, or, if no ice is to be had, cold water into which a handful of salt and saltpetre has been thrown, and placed in a current of air, will soon cool it.