Gelatin is an edible jelly obtained from boiling animal body parts like skin, connective tissue, and bones. There are two types - type A derived from an acid precursor and type B from an alkali precursor. To make gelatin, bones undergo acid/alkali baths, heating, filtering, clarifying, and dehydrating. Gelatin is used to make dishes like aspic and chaud froid, where meat is coated in a béchamel or veloute sauce that solidifies when chilled. Chaud froid means "hot-cold" in French and was invented when a marshal had chicken fricassee served to him cold after being summoned away from a dinner party.

1. Gelatin
French; gelatine: edible jelly, gelatin.
Italian; gelare: to freeze
American(current): gelatinous material
obtained from the boiling of skin, white
connective tissue & bones of animals.
(Aspic Centerpiece)

2. U.S. Pharmacopia
Type A –Derived from an acid
precursor.
Type B – Derived from an alkali
precursor.

3. Process For Gelatin:
Bones
Acid/or Alkali Baths
Heating
Filtering
Chemically Clarifying
Dehydrating
Pulverizing

4. Kitchen Process
Stock: bones, snouts, skin, hooves, feet,
knuckles, tendons.
Minimum 12 hours.
Gelee.
Clarify
a. aspic gelee

5. Forms Of Gelatin
Gelatin Powder
Gelatin Sheets
Savory Gelatin Mix
& sweet dessert
mixes.

6. Other Forms
Agar Agar – seaweed
(vegetarian).
Isinglass - comes from
the air bladders of
sturgeon and other fish.
It's sometimes used to
clarify wine & beer.
Vegetable Pectin

7. Aspic Concentrations
2 oz / delicate gel / slicing not required
4 oz / coating gel / edible chaud froid
8 oz / sliceable gel/ molding food in loaf
12 oz / hard gel /non-eating purpose
(i.e. chaud froid platter)

8. Cardinal Rules
1. Don’t boil – will weaken.
2. Don’t over stir – incorporates excess air
bubbles.
3. Always wear gloves – oils in your skin
cause it to break down.
4. Acid/Enzymes – most likely found in fruits
like kiwi fruit, papayas, pineapple,
peaches, most citrus fruits, mangos,
guavas, and figs.
5. Freezing

9. Chaud Froid
French term for “Hot-Cold “
Historically: meat/poultry
covered with: béchamel, or
veloute, demi-glace.
Most often served on a
cold buffet platters as a
presentation for a wide
variety of items.

10. Marshal Of Luxembourg, 1759
One evening the Marshall had a dinner party in his
chateau (chateau Montmorency) where they dinned
on sautéed fricassee of chicken in white sauce.
Before the first course was to be served, a
messenger arrived to summon the marshal to the
king’s council.
The Marshal wanted his guests to continue dinner in
is absence.
When he returned home late, he was served the cold
chicken fricassee which had congealed in the white
sauce.
He found this dish very succulent & a few days later
expressed a desire to have it served cold again.
The marshal gave it the name “chaud –Froid”
because he did not like the name “refroidi” (cooled).

11. Alternative
Collee: mayonnaise/sour cream combined
with cold aspic jelly
Typically used on fish.