WEBVTT - How Does Aspic Work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff.

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogelbam here. If you've never eaten Aspect, perhaps you've

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<v Speaker 1>seen pictures of them, clear gelatine molds encasing savory ingredients

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<v Speaker 1>in decorative designs. You might have layers of vegetables, perhaps

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<v Speaker 1>carved into geometric or floral shapes, slices of hard boiled egg,

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<v Speaker 1>or pieces of cooked meat, or even whole small fish

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<v Speaker 1>swimming through the transparent, wobbly savory jelly. For the article,

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<v Speaker 1>this episode is based on how Stuff Work. Spoke with

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<v Speaker 1>Hannah Sellinger, a food writer and graduate of the International

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<v Speaker 1>Culinary Center. She said, irrespective of what Aspect actually tastes like,

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<v Speaker 1>and it's not for everyone, there's something incredibly compelling about

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<v Speaker 1>that jiggle. It's a food for voyeurs. So yes, Aspect

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<v Speaker 1>is usually a savory jello mole, a sort of cold

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<v Speaker 1>gelatin based salad. Gelatin itself is flavorless. It's just a

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<v Speaker 1>type of protein that comes in these long, twisty chains

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<v Speaker 1>and is really good at linking up with other gelatine

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<v Speaker 1>chains and with molecules of water. However, any flavors or

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<v Speaker 1>colors that are in that water will come along for

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<v Speaker 1>the ride. Traditionally, you don't make aspect with pure storbot gelatin. Rather,

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<v Speaker 1>you make your own by preparing a clear stok, meaning

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<v Speaker 1>you simmer the skin, tendons, and bones of beef, poultry,

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<v Speaker 1>or fish in water until the collagen in them breaks

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<v Speaker 1>down into gelatin. Collagen is a connective protein in and

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<v Speaker 1>around animal cells that gives them their flexible structure. It's

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<v Speaker 1>especially prevalent in the above tissues. When you boil these

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<v Speaker 1>tissues in water, the collagen inside them untwines, leaving you

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<v Speaker 1>with gelatin molecules and some meaty flavor from whatever protein

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<v Speaker 1>you used. Four aspects. Stock is clarified to make it

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<v Speaker 1>as translucent and colorless as possible. This clear stock is

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<v Speaker 1>sometimes called by the French term consummee. When it's warm,

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<v Speaker 1>it's soup. But the fun functional thing about gelatin molecules

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<v Speaker 1>is that they'll stick together and solidify temperatures below about

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<v Speaker 1>seventy seven degrees fahrenheit that's twenty five celsius, forming a gel.

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<v Speaker 1>With any water and water soluble flavors that you've introduced.

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<v Speaker 1>This gel can set so stiffly that you can suspend

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<v Speaker 1>other foods. In it as it cools, and use molds

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<v Speaker 1>to set it into fantastic shapes. But when you warm

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<v Speaker 1>it up again to somewhere above ninety five degrees fahrenheit

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<v Speaker 1>or about thirty five celsius, it'll melt back to a liquid,

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<v Speaker 1>meaning that it melts in your mouth. Aspect is a solid,

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<v Speaker 1>decorative soup. Celinger said. Obviously, aspec has spurred passionate defense.

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<v Speaker 1>Over the course of culinary history, gelatin is as a

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<v Speaker 1>whole has gone through a lot of permutations. A chilled

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<v Speaker 1>savory gelatin based dishes go back to at least the

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<v Speaker 1>thirteen hundreds. Before industrial era innovations in cooking and refrigeration,

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<v Speaker 1>these were seriously time consuming, difficult dishes to make, and

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<v Speaker 1>Europe's upper classes showed off at feasts by presenting gels

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<v Speaker 1>festooned with expensive spices and meats, a layered in different

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<v Speaker 1>colors and decorated with gold leaf. During the medieval era,

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<v Speaker 1>people also sometimes shaved down deer antlers to make hartshorn gelatine,

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<v Speaker 1>or made a type of gelling agent called eiesenglass from

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<v Speaker 1>the swim bladders of certain types of fish. By the

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<v Speaker 1>mid sixteen hundreds, people in Japan and Ireland had developed

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<v Speaker 1>the seaweed derived gelling products agar and karagenin, which are

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<v Speaker 1>still used as vegetarian alternatives today. Around this time people

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<v Speaker 1>started experimenting with sweet gelatin dishes too, but that's a

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<v Speaker 1>different episode. Aspic went in and out of fashion over

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<v Speaker 1>the centuries. Its true heyday may have been in the

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<v Speaker 1>seventeen and eighteen hundreds, when improvements in technique and technology

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<v Speaker 1>allowed for wealthy households to present show stopping centerpieces a

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<v Speaker 1>picture whole pigeons roasted with sprigs of myrtle stuck in

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<v Speaker 1>their beaks, encased in clear gelatine, or a gelatin fish

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<v Speaker 1>pond made with large and small colored gelatin fishes in

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<v Speaker 1>clear gelatin, or a hen's nest made with shreaded lemon

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<v Speaker 1>peel set in gelatin, filled with gelatin eggs molded in

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<v Speaker 1>real eggshells, or with molded gelatin chickens. By the early

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen hundreds, inexpensive instant gelatine sold in packets brought the

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<v Speaker 1>magic of aspect to the masses, where it remained popular

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<v Speaker 1>until the nineteen seventies. You could buy savory flavors from

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<v Speaker 1>the brand Jello, like celery and Italian salad, Houstuffworks also

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<v Speaker 1>spoke via email. Ken Albala, professor of history at the

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<v Speaker 1>University of the Pacific INCA in California, an author of

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<v Speaker 1>the book of the Great Gelatine Revival. He said, as

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<v Speaker 1>often happens, the fashion started at the top socially and

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<v Speaker 1>was imitated by those below until it went completely out

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<v Speaker 1>of fashion and fine dining, which is where we are now.

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<v Speaker 1>I do predict in my book that it will come

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<v Speaker 1>back again. Aspect does differ around the world, both in

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<v Speaker 1>taste and popularity. It's still pretty common in Eastern Europe

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<v Speaker 1>and Germany, especially with cold meat aspect and head cheese,

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<v Speaker 1>though Allballa says it's not very prevalent in Western Europe

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<v Speaker 1>or North America anymore a quote, except of course, in

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<v Speaker 1>home cooking and for intrepid cooks on the borders who

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<v Speaker 1>like doing strange things. As Sellinger says, she thinks there's

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<v Speaker 1>a certain appeal to aspect that has more to do

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<v Speaker 1>with a retro enthusiasm and how it looks, not how

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<v Speaker 1>it tastes, because aspect can taste like whatever you want

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<v Speaker 1>it to. If you made your aspect from meat, it

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<v Speaker 1>will have a meaty flavor. If you make it from

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<v Speaker 1>unflavored gelatine. You can add whatever you like, celery, tomato, cream, mayonnaise,

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<v Speaker 1>and either way you'll also be adding flavor with whatever

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<v Speaker 1>foods you can jeel into the aspect, anything from meats

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<v Speaker 1>to vegetables, to fruit to eggs. You can work in layers,

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<v Speaker 1>filling a mold with a bit of gelatin and a

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<v Speaker 1>few ingredients, letting it set, and then adding another bit

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<v Speaker 1>of gelatin and stuff to the mold. To serve, it's

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<v Speaker 1>usually sliced or scooped out with a serving spoon. Aspec

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<v Speaker 1>is also used to coat and glaze foods such as

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<v Speaker 1>cold meats and fish, eggs, poached or roasted poultry, and vegetables.

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<v Speaker 1>A plain aspect, chopped or cut into shapes, is also

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<v Speaker 1>used to garnish cold dishes. The two most common uses

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<v Speaker 1>of aspect today are likely as toppings for treens and patis,

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<v Speaker 1>which are made from fine ground meat and sort of

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<v Speaker 1>like a small chilled meat loaf. But perhaps the most

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<v Speaker 1>entertaining thing about aspec in these are modern times are

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<v Speaker 1>the online communities dedicated to its jiggly consistency. While working

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<v Speaker 1>on his Aspect book, Albalis says it was a and

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<v Speaker 1>I quote perverse aberration that for about a year or more,

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<v Speaker 1>I made an aspect almost every day, became obsessed with it,

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<v Speaker 1>and then stopped completely when I finished writing the book.

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<v Speaker 1>It was a lot of fun, though a great technical

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<v Speaker 1>and gastronomic challenge, mostly for the entertainment of a Facebook

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<v Speaker 1>group called show Me Your Aspects that apparently adored what

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<v Speaker 1>I was doing. There are, in fact, many online communities

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<v Speaker 1>devoted to aspect. If you're on Facebook, I personally recommend

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<v Speaker 1>aspects with threatening auras, which I think is self explanatory.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode is based on the article aspect There's just

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<v Speaker 1>something about that jiggle on how Stuffworks dot Com, written

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<v Speaker 1>by Katie Sprattlejoyce a brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio

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<v Speaker 1>in partnership with how Stuffworks dot Com, and it's produced

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<v Speaker 1>by Tyler Klang. The four more podcasts from my Heart

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<v Speaker 1>Radio visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

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<v Speaker 1>listen to your favorite shows.