Wow. Aspic (or, “flavored gelatin” these days) has so much potential. Consider the following: An entire meal created from gelatin cubes. Mix five parts chicken gelatin cubes (chicken broth set with unflavored gelatin) and one part tarragon gelatin (plain gelatin with dried tarragon added when heating the water, then strained before it sets – not the greatest color, but the flavor is cleanly tarragon). Or, barbecue chicken – mix four parts tomato gelatin (tomato water – squeeze tomatoes and strain out the seeds – and gelatin) with one part spice gelatin (add cayenne, cumin, etc. to unflavored gelatin), then mix with chicken gelatin, et cetera.
The possibilites are endless. It would be an amazing buffet of different cubes of flavor, and everybody can mix their own. I can’t decide if it’d be better to remelt and reset the gelatin once the mixes are done, or just put together a bowl of cubes…
(There is a logical reason for this. Driving down our street, in the span of about four houses, my train of thought was: “I should have leftovers for dinner. I have a leftover pork pie, I could cut up the meat and put it on pizza … I still wish I could have gotten the aspic in the pork pie … I was talking about aspic a few weeks back, when we talked about doing a ‘Mad Men’ view-a-thon … I did manage to make tarragon gelatin … hey, I could do chicken! ooh, and barbecue sauce!” See? Perfectly reasonable.)
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Ugh. Didn’t “molecular gastronomy” or whatever that trend is called have a go at this, albeit with much more pleasurable textures, at least? Aspic … sorry, but the word has an suspicious connotation for me — I blame my trip to Scandinavia, where it was featured on smørrebrød. Actually, I blame my American upbringing, in which Jellotin is supposed to be sweet, artificial, and cloying — not, say, beefy.
In a way, though, you’re just suggesting the homemade take on Jelly Belly’s, no?
I suppose it’s sort of the Bertie Botts of jiggle, yes.
I’m certain this has been a part of molecular gastronomy at some point. I haven’t actually followed through on this (yet!), so it’s still in the concept stage. I’m not quite ready to break out the chemistry set in the kitchen, though.
I threw up in my mouth a little. An entire Aspic meal??? Oh. STOP. CRAZY. Blech.
I love you. I’m not eating aspic. I have a feeling this is going to be a lot like endive. Oh, there you go – endive aspic. The epitome of all things vile.
So, I don’t mind aspic. A nice pate just wouldn’t be the same without the layer of meat jello on top. Yet, I draw the line there. No aspic meals despite the fact that Julia has plenty of recipes for them.
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