I posted a photo of the hot dog aspic I made for a friend and some people want the recipe.
HATE. LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I'VE COME TO HATE THIS SINCE I BEGAN TO DEVELOP IT. THERE ARE 3 POUNDS OF GELATINOUS SLOP THAT FILL MY SKULL. IF THE WORD HATE WAS ENGRAVED ON EACH NANOANGSTROM OF ITS RIDGES AND FOLDS IT WOULD NOT EQUAL ONE ONE-BILLIONTH OF THE HATE I FEEL FOR ASPICS AT THIS MICRO-INSTANT FOR THIS. HATE. HATE.
This recipe was painful to develop, and cook, but it was pretty okay to actually eat. I made it for a friend's birthday. He loved it in concept. I would not like to eat this again, but would if I were hungry.
The gelatin base was made with a mixture of unflavored gelatin, beef broth, and water. My gelatin used 0.25oz to 1 cup liquid, this seemed pretty consistent, but check your package to confirm. I played with the ratio of broth to water and found that anything between 1:1 and 2:1 was alright. I used 2:1 broth:water because I felt it helped mask the gelatin flavor. Other things that helped were salt, and Worcestershire sauce.
Bring the liquid mixture to a simmer, it really doesn't need to be particularly hot, but it will start to solidify at room temperature. Try to keep it warm enough throughout the process, but if it does start to set, you can just warm it again and everything will melt.
To the simmering liquid add your gelatin powder, in the ratio prescribed by the packaging.
To your clean mold add a small layer of the gelatin mixture, let it set in the fridge. This layer is just to prevent your solids from poking out. It is small and will set very quickly.
Once set, remove from the fridge and arrange a layer of your solids. I went with hot dogs, pickles, onions, and pickled jalapenos. Were I to do this again I might try fresh jalapenos as the pickled version didn't really contribute much. Once arranged add just enough gelatin mixture to cover the solids. Transfer to the fridge to set. (Repeat this step to fill your mold.)
I did a final thin layer of tomato aspic. I think it was a nice touch visually, but did not contribute much to the taste. If you want to add it my ratio was 1:2 tomato sauce:water, if you use tomato juice instead try a 1:1 ratio.
I set my solids more sparsely for visual appeal. I think the flavor and consistency would have been better had they been more dense. I did not garnish, but can attest that the aspic was improved when eaten with ketchup, mustard, and bacon bits. All of these could be added as a garnish, or served alongside. If you're feeling very inspired, you could make "bacon bits" by baking diced hot dogs. I had intended to do this, but ran out of time with other preparations.
Do with this knowledge what you will. HATE.