Gastronomy of Aspic

Since the early twentieth-century, gelatin products such as dessert jelly and jello salad(aspic) are often viewed as the “American ‘icon’” due to the well established and “almost universal recognition” of Jello. Nevertheless, as significant as its ephemeral representation of popular American “domesticity” and identity, the long progressive cultural development of gelatin cuisine is oftentimes undermentioned. Because of the aesthetic elements like the transparency, color, and shape, the versatility to change textures with temperatures and preserve freshness of the contained food, gelatin products eventually became the gastronomic phenomenon with a rich and mesmerizing history in numerous cultures’ public and domestic platforms.

 

More especially, aspic can be considered the earliest form of gelatin food products consumed in the Middle Ages, and one of the most representative types of gelatin products, which commonly uses gelatin made from savory meat  Regardless of the long history of aspic, different aspic jellies have been relished by various cultures for centuries and still served on their dinner tables today with everlasting popularity. For instance, headcheese is a European meat jelly set in aspic, which requires a similar cooking method as the crystal xiaorou from Yangzhou China and kholodets from Russia but each of these dishes also possesses its own unique visual appearance.