Eggs in Aspic 0

Many years ago, when I bought my first copy of Craig Claiborne’s New York Times Cookbook (I think I’ve worn out two of them and am on my third), I was intrigued by the picture early in the book on page 26 of eggs in aspic.

I finally made them this weekend.

You can watch your Iron Chefs and Food Networks all you want. I prefer cooking to watching others cook.

The Eggs

Poach six or boil three eggs (boiled eggs can be cut in half as shown in the picture above) and place in refrigerator.

The Aspic:

Ingredients:

• 3 cps. chicken broth
• 1 cp. tomato juice
• 4 envelopes unflavored gelatin
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 2 egg shells, crushed
• 2 egg whites, lightly beaten
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tbs cognac

Procedure:

1. Combine all the ingredients except the cognac in a saucepan.

2. Bring mixture to boil slowly (I used medium heat), stirring, until it starts to rise in the pan.

3. Remove from heat, stir in cognac, then strain out the egg shells.

4. Refrigerate.

The Assembly

If you don’t have egg molds (I didn’t), you may use any reasonable facsimile thereof. I used some small serving bowls. You could also, according Claiborne, use custard cups and, I reckon, in a pinch, you could use a muffin or roll pan.

1. Trim the eggs if poached–a cookie cutter is ideal for this–or halve them if boiled.

2. Once the aspic is chilled but not set, fill the molds about 1/3 full with it.

3. Place the eggs in the molds.

4. Add spices as desired. The recipe called for two tarragon leaves in each mold. I was too lazy to hunt for tarragon leaves, so I just sprinkled some tarragon bits in each one.

5. Fill the molds with the rest of the aspic and chill until aspic is set.

Observations:

I was surprised at how easy the preparation turned out to be.

The flavor was slightly savory. They were tastier the second day because the flavors had more time to blend.

A little asagio cheese sprinkled on them worked very nicely, as did a bit of the best hot sauce (Frank’s, of course).

I looking forward to trying them again in a couple of weeks and experimenting with additional herbs and perhaps some Worcestershire sauce.