Meat Jelly

Ingredients

• 1 oz. of leaf gelatine
• a pint of well flavoured stock
• a sliced onion
• a bay leaf
• a bunch of herbs
• a few peppercorns
• a few allspice
• the white and shell of an egg

Method

1. 1

   Put the gelatine, stock, onion, bay leaf, herbs, peppercorns, allspice, and egg into a clean pan.

2. 2

   Bring gently to the boil, whisking until just reached, then strain through a warmed jelly bag.

3. 3

   If not crystal clear, strain again.

As published

This recipe was extracted from The "Queen" cookery books: Entrees (1901) by S. Beaty-Pownall, page 77. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

meat jelly put into a delicately clean pan loz. of leaf gelatine, a pint of well flavoured stock (white or brown, according to the use you intend putting it to), a sliced onion, a bay leaf, a bunch of herbs, a few peppercorns and allspice mixed, and the white and shell of an egg, and bring these all very gently to the boil, whisking them well together till the boil is just reached, then run it all through a wanned jelly bag. It should be crystal clear, but if not, strain it through the bag again. How for the second version of this dish : Prepare the conventional white sauce of commerce, stiffen it with vigorously acidulated aspic jelly in the propor- tion of two parts aspic to one of white sauce, and with this mask thickly some slices cut from a cold fowl, either roast, boiled, or stewed, as may be con- venient, and when this first coating is set, glaze with the plain aspic, and serve, in all probability with slices of tinned tongue’and canned peas, or a tinned macedoine. How, I do not for one moment assert that if carefully prepared this roughly described dish may not result in a distinctly appetising little entree on an emergency, and if the masking sauce is well flavoured, the aspic not unduly acid, and especially if the dish be modestly styled chicken in aspic, and tinned garnish be eschewed, it will meet with much approval, but a supreme en chaufroix , or en aspic, however nicely prepared, it simply is not, and never will be ! For an entree en aspic, the meat used may, or may not, have been cocked for the purpose. Of course. 1G0 ENTRIES. it is daintier in the former case, but if nicely pre- pared, cold meat can be used up in this way most successfully. The great thing with all these cold dishes is great neatness and simplicity in the serving. All appearance of handling must be most scrupu- lously avoided A certain amount of garnish is, of course, almost cle rigueur, but care must be taken not to overdo it. A safe rule for cold savourv entrees is to restrict the colourings religiously to such as may be naturally obtained. I do not say that they may not be judiciously helped out on occasions with a few drops of artificial colouring, but in this case impress on your cordon bleu . Hamlet’s advice to players, “ with this special observance, that you o’erstep not the modesty of nature . . . but hold, as ’twere, the mirror up to nature ! ” A large scale of colour may be obtained by the judicious use of coralline pepper, shrimps or prawns, tomatoes, radishes, &c., for reds ; greens of all shades, from the soft grey-green of the olive or the pale sea green of the cucumber, to the almost black green of caviar ; the black of the truffle ; the yellow and white of the hardboiled egg, &c. ; all these may justifiably be utilised, whilst dark or pale golden aspic chopped, or in cubes, adds brightness to any dish with which it may be in harmony. The recipes given in the next chapter will serve to show how these various addenda may be utilised, and an intelligent cook will very soon learn to vary her entrees almost indefinitely. Lastly come the mayonnaises. As a general principle the foundation of these is the mayonnaise CHAUFROIX, &c. 101 sauce. For tliis a recipe is given in the chapter dedicated to sauces, hut it may be varied in plenty of ways ; for instance, the blending together of a gill each of rich mayonnaise, tomato puree, and just liquid aspic, with a spoonful of tarragon vinegar, produces a beautiful tomato mayonnaise, which may be made with tomato ketchup (in this case omit the subsequent vinegar), conserve de tomates, or the fresh vegetable, as you choose. If necessary, a drop or two of carmine may be permitted to bring up the colour, but for pity’s sake do not overdo this ! Eemember that though every mayonnaise is more or less of a salad, a salad is not necessarily a mayonnaise. A mayonnaise is especially dear to the economic, if dainty, housewife, as by its means so many pretty dishes may be improvised at comparatively short notice out of the veriest scraps. For instance, say you have on the previous day had a duck for dinner, which, though but little has been eaten, has been decidedly mangled in the carving. Cut this duck up into the smallest and neatest joints, mix together three large tablespoonfuls of rich mayonnaise with half a pint of just liquid aspic, stirring into this as you mix it two tablespoonfuls or so of minced and blanched olives, a good dust of coralline pepper, and, if at hand, a tablespoonful of stiffly whipped cream, mask the duck joints with this, and leave them till set. Have ready some quartered cabbage lettuce, carefully removing the outer leaves ; break up these outer leaves as small as possible with your fingers (do not use a knife on any consideration), mix them M 162 ENTRIES. with any scrapings from tho carcase of the duck, a few minced olives, some washed, honed, and filleted anchovies, and half a pint of rich mayonnaise sauce. Arrange a thick bed of this on a dish, pile the mayonnaise-covered joints on top and surround it all with the quartered lettuce, some quartered hard- boiled eggs, and, if at hand, a little finely chopped aspic jelly, and you will have a dish no one need be ashamed of. A variante of this, obtained by coating the duck joints with cold Bigarade sauce mixed in the same proportions with aspic jelly as the mayon- naise, may be served on a Russian salad made of all kinds of cold cooked vegetables, anchovies, hard- boiled egg, &c. Or you may make a chaufroix by dissolving |oz. of best leaf gelatine in, say, half a pint of very thick brown olive sauce, letting it boil in a quarter part, and then using as it is setting. Cold mutton, if cut into neat little wedge-shaped pieces and marinaded as described in the first chapter, then masked with Chevreuil sauce (stiffened with from joz. to |oz. of leaf gelatine

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.