Anyone still like / make aspic?

Cafe Society
1

I made Chicken Piccata last night for a romantic VD dinner with Mrs. solost. In my version of Piccata I take homemade bone broth and reduce it to about 1/4 of its original volume to make the sauce.

I had a little reduced broth left over, maybe less than a cup, so I put it in a container and refrigerated. When I make broth I don’t bother straining it too much, I just run it through a spaghetti strainer, so being reduced broth from the bottom of the pot, it had plenty of little chicken bits in it. This morning it had very much turned into chicken aspic the consistency of jello, so I thought, hmmm, let’s find some crackers.

Unfortunately the only crackers I could find in the house were these herb seed crackers that were a little too strongly flavored for this purpose, but still, the aspic on crackers made for some tasty brunchy appetizers.

2

I don’t make it, but I always partake of it when I’m at my parents’ and mom has one in the fridge. She does a Polish version with (usually) chicken, peas, and carrots. Served with some vinegar and a slice or two of hearty Polish rye, and it’s a welcome treat.

Most people I know think it’s absolutely revolting. More for me!

It looks a lot like this:

3

I like aspic, especially if it’s a well-flavored meat stock with a little port or sherry in it, and has bits of meat embedded in it.

I like when leftover roast or steamed chicken has gelled in its own juice. That jelly is pure flavor!

4

That picture looks disgusting. It reminds me of leftover jarred gefilte fish after being refrigerated. The liquid gels a bit in the refrigerator, and you get this disgusting snot-like garbage all over the gefilte fish loaf. (Not that jarred gefilte fish is that great to begin with, but I’ll tolerate it during a Passover seder.)

5

The only version I’m familiar with. I like that one, but I think I would have a textural aversion to the more traditional types :slight_smile:.

6

I think that pic looks delicious!

Me too!

I bet a Venn diagram of people who are disgusted by gelled collagen in meat dishes and people who are disgusted by raw oysters would almost be a straight circle. i love raw oysters, but whenever I’m out to dinner with Mrs. solost and order them she says “ewwwww…they look like snot”.

I also love Uni (sea urchin sushi) which has a texture that turns a lot of people off. It’s like fishy-flavored pudding. Yum.

7

Yessss. I despise raw oysters.

I would like to try Oysters Rockefeller someday. But only off someone else’s plate - I wouldn’t risk getting a whole entree for myself.

8

I’m not revolted by aspic and would slurp it up but I think I’d rather use it as an ingredient in something else.

9

Here’s one way it’s used as an ingredient:

Cold chopped aspic is mixed in with the ground meat and seasonings that form the inside of a Chinese soup dumpling. Then, when the dumpling is steamed, the aspic melts and forms soup inside the dumpling skin.

10

Oh, that is genius. Want me some soup dumplings now :yum:

11

I like uni and raw oysters. I like plain gelled collagen, but I don’t like it with stuff in it. It’s more an appearance than texture thing for me. I like the smooth clear appearance of the gelatin, and adding stuff ruins that.

12

Well, you know, that’s how I used to like to eat my larks’ tongues. But these days I’m more likely to steam them, or maybe add them to an omelette. It’s important to mix things up a bit.

13

This. It reminds me of p’tcha (calves’ foot jelly), an Ashkenazi Jewish nightmare food we’ve been trying to suppress for almost a century.

14

Interesting what meanings the word straight can adopt.
Aspic and gelatine are fine, but I seldom do it. Sometimes it happens spontaneously in the fridge, and I go: “Ah, OK”, take some rye bread and butter and eat it. With salt, and chives, or horse radish, mostly.

15

If it’s anything like холодец (holodets), then no, I don’t like it. At all.

16

When i make chicken broth, it usually gels in the fridge. But i use it as broth, i don’t eat it as a gelatin.

17

I love eating raw oysters, but I’ve never had aspic. I haven’t avoided it, just never had the opportunity.

18

It is exactly like that.

19

Tastes like cold mucus with crunchy blood clots. Brrrr.

20

I like raw oysters. I love raw oysters. But I don’t like aspic. I remember watching an old British Bake-off show where Paul Hollywood was using gelatin to fill the gaps in a meat pie. Yuck. And I have always hated the gelatin you got in canned hams. Rinse that crap right off.