Aspics

[Rico]

Back in the days when I was a culinary whelp, completely and totally dependent upon tried-and-true recipes that I had to follow word for word lest my ignorance destroy a dish (not that I am a culinary Michelangelo now, by any means), I delved into Julia Child's The Way To Cook. It taught me a lot, to say the very least, and I was fortunate to happen upon it as one of my first 'real' cookbooks.

It's been several years since I've read it, but I went through it this morning looking for something or other, and glanced at a photo of 'Mediterranean Fish In Aspic.' And this is by no means the only aspic in the book - she clearly, throughout her career as a culinary ambassador, espoused aspic.

So what happened to it? Did Jell-o ruin what once was a well respected manner of preparing a dish? I'll be honest - the photo of Mediterranean Fish In Aspic looked unappealing to me. Is that because I grew up with Jell-o and imagined that the shrimp and fish were encased in something Bill Cosby may have endorsed?

My only other French tome, Robuchon, makes no mention of aspic in its rather large index, which explains why I haven't come across it while going through it.

So was it just something Julia liked, and was never really a well known dish, or was it once something widely respected that just went out of style. Most importantly, though, it is not popular anymore because it's not that good, or because of a perception issue? Or is it popular, and I just haven't been going to the right places?

[heidih]

A member posted about a lovely fish in aspic dish here.

[Jaymes]

So was it just something Julia liked, and was never really a well known dish, or was it once something widely respected that just went out of style. Most importantly, though, it is not popular anymore because it's not that good, or because of a perception issue? Or is it popular, and I just haven't been going to the right places?

These things come and go. Something is new and exciting and different. Then it's popular. Then it's ubiquitous. Then it's a cliche. And finally even the brunt of jokes. The fashionable crowd moves on.

Aspic definitely used to be a "well-known dish." In fact, you could hardly attend any sort of daytime ladies' function without some type of tomato aspic, served either as a salad, or as the main course if it included some type of meat; most often, shrimp or ham. And for the most part, the ladies loved them. Non-tomato aspics, such as the fish ones discussed, would have been reserved for formal dinner parties. Although cold fish aspics most likely would not have been served as an evening main, they were very popular first courses.

Just speculating, but I think that several cultural factors are at play here.

First, there are far fewer "ladies who lunch" these days. I can remember a time when I got at least three or four such invitations a week - bridge or majong luncheons, charity project meetings, church activities, neighborhood ladies' socials, and the like. I don't think that happens much anymore and, if it does, not with the same regularity, primarily because these days most everybody's working.

And as for the latter - I don't think there are as many formal dinner parties at nighttime, either. And if somebody is taking the time, energy, and money to throw one, they definitely want to serve what's new and trendy and stylish and fashionable. Not something that their Aunt Helen might have brought out.

On top of that, there is the generally accepted notion that men don't like congealed dishes. So, if you're not throwing a genteel ladies' luncheon to welcome a newcomer to the neighborhood, for example, when it comes to planning a menu, modern folks are not predisposed to choose aspic.

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Edited June 3, 2011 by Jaymes (log)

[Lisa Shock]

They were extremely popular in the 1800's, pretty much required as part of any upper-class evening meal or luncheon -particularly in summertime. Made from leaf gelatin, they were viewed as the pinnacle of refined taste and symbolized wealth of the host/hostess. There was also a huge industry in making elaborate molds for each of the classes of gelatin-based foods.

The development of cheap powder gelatin gave broader access to to the dish across both economic and geographic boundaries. The powdered for was easier to use, and quickly was offered in flavors. But, it was not until the development of home refrigerators and their subsequent decline in price, that gelatin-based foods were embraced by the masses.

I think that in the 1950's, when Julia was attending school, the old-guard recalled the era when the aspic was king of the table and taught it as such, even while the suzie-homemaker publications of the day were pushing weird, cheap gelatin concoctions as ways to liven up leftovers or create garish new desserts.

Even today, use of aspic is integral in fine dining garde manger presentations. And, it is still taught in schools.

I suspect that it doesn't get served in homes much any more because, for some of the older crowd, it represents old-fashioned, unstylish food that we saw our grandparents serve. And, there is a lot of modern association of gelatin foods with low-class, cheap, processed convenience 'recipes' designed to improve corporate profits -the complete opposite of natural, wholesome foods which began to surge in popularity in the 1970's.

[Edward J]

Jell-o, has a loooong history, going far back to Peter Cooper (of the trans-atlantic cable, and price-waterhouse-cooper fame) who developed processes for making glue (very simiiar to food grade gelatin) which he later let his sons and sons in law run.

Jell-o was--and is a fruit flavoured dessert. Aspic is almost always a meat flavoured item, usually involving the use of gleatin and collagen rich items like pigs/calves feet, poultry wing tips, and the like.

But jell-o got a bad rap as far back as the 1980's when it appeared on virtually every picnic table and pot-luck table. "The Simpson's" managed to spoof it and get a few laughs with it as well.

Aspic, if properly done, is wonderful.

[Holly Moore]

Summer brings fond memories of the Jellied Consomme Madrilene of yesteryear.

Does anyone still work with mayonnaise based chaud froid sauce?

[GlorifiedRice]

Im sure some kind of aspic is big in Utah!

Lets start an Aspic "chill-off"...

[andiesenji]

Having been raised on a farm, I really didn't have much contact with Jell-O until well after the war.

I remember that calves foot jelly was cooked out in the summer kitchen, even in cold and rainy weather because my elderly relatives did not like the aroma permeating the house.

The Jewel Tea man supplied powdered gelatin in a tin that had a picture on it that looked like candy - I know because I opened the tin and spilled some, which precipitated a paddling that I did not forget in a hurry.

Miz Jennings, my grandparent's cook, had a very broad hand and was allowed, if not encouraged, to provide discipline to me and my cousins, when we were naughty.

Tomato aspic, made with fully ripe tomatoes, remains a favorite of mine today. There were aspics of sliced beef and vegetable, chicken salad in aspic, various types of wild game in aspic with or without vegetables and a favorite of my grandpa's, that wasn't popular with most in the family, oysters in aspic.

[David Ross]

My Grandmother regularly served aspic as a luncheon dish for her Bridge Club during the 30's and 40's. I rarely make it, but an updated version of tomato aspic can be made with tiny diced celery, celery leaves and then whatever type of "Bloody Mary" seasoning you prefer. I like it seasoned with celery seed, tabasco and Worcestershire sauce.

[gfweb]

Aspic was modernist cuisine from another century I think. Whenever I read old menus from feasts in the 1800s,aspic is prominantly featured. It seems unusually delicate compared to the great quantities of roast beast served and must've stood out like a deconstructed and sphereified gaspacho does today.

[David A. Goldfarb]

I've made fish aspics, extracting my own gelatin from calves feet. In Poland and perhaps in other East European countries dishes like trout in aspic are not so unusual.

[helenjp]

It seems that everything white and everything translucent and transparent was beloved of the Edwardians...add that to the newfangled refrigeration technology, and aspic on every fashionable dinnertable is a given!

I've made cold fish dishes with self-gelling stocks, and the gel is soft and tasty as well as very pretty...who could fault it as an early summer dish?