Since we first began asking you several years ago to send your favorite Southern heirloom recipes for us to update, tomato aspic recipes have trickled in. We would set them aside, faintly hoping we might persuade one of our Saving Southern Food chefs panelists to give them a try.

Finally, Bacchanalia and Quinones chef-owner Anne Quatrano stepped up and, with the assistance of Quinones chef de cuisine David “Andy” Carson, created a version inspired by a reader recipe and worthy of a white-tablecloth restaurant. While we were at it, we also tried two unabashedly retro aspics shared by other readers. Each yielded a totally different flavor and were wonderfully satisfying just as they were.

We share them with you here, with our fingers crossed that perhaps you’ll see another delicious aspect of aspic.

Tomato Aspic With Artichokes

Anne Quatrano, chef-owner of Bacchanalia decided to try Lulyanne Allgood’s submission for tomato aspic, featuring artichoke hearts and a garnish of mayonnaise and caviar.

With the help of Quinones chef de cuisine David “Andy” Carson, she created a refined update substituting fresh ingredients for everything except the artichokes.

“I wouldn’t use canned if I were serving it in the restaurant, but since artichokes are not in season, I made an exception for the purposes of testing the recipe. Actually, I had never bought canned artichokes before and had to get the supermarket manager to help me find them,” she said, laughing.

What won us over was the aspic itself — made not from store-bought tomato juice, but tomato “water” distilled from an assortment of vine-ripened heirlooms. The result is the essence of summer, shimmering and smooth.

It’s somewhat of a pain to make but well worth it: The ingredients are drained for hours through several thicknesses of cheesecloth.

Once it’s drained, you can use the “water” for aspics, or as the base of cold and hot soups.

In her gorgeous book, “The Heirloom Tomato: From Garden to Table (Bloomsbury, $35),” Amy Goldman suggests making a not-so-bloody Mary using a distilled water of all yellow and white tomatoes.

At Quinones, Carson uses this technique to make a more complex aspic that uses a gazpacho base. They shared that recipe with us as well.

Not planning to have the girls over for a bridge luncheon anytime soon? Then do what Atlanta architect Barbara Ratner did when she first tried the (Vicksburg, Miss.) Old Southern Tea Room’s recipe at home:

“I served it as a lark — and everyone loved it. Now I make it all the time, even if it’s only for me and my husband, because it is just so good.”

Aunt Florence’s Tomato Surprise

The contributor: Carol Sue Ravenel, an artist and author of three books who works in the office of Jenny Pruitt and Associates, where she was once a real estate agent. She is married to Jim Ravenel, a mortgage broker, and has a daughter and three granddaughters.

The story: “Florence and Fritz Schwaemmle - aunt and uncle by love — took me under their wing, when as a young bride I moved from Miami to College Park in 1955. Uncle Fritz was a retired vice president of Delta Airlines; Orville Wright signed his pilot’s license which was framed on their wall.

“Aunt Florence never retired - she always entertained and made people happy! I remember walking up the hill to her house, smelling the chow chow simmering on her stove. For Christmas she would always make a Lane Cake - one of those elaborate layer cakes no one ever takes the time to bake anymore. She taught me everything I needed to know about being a hostess, like where to put the wine glasses on the table.

“This was one of the recipes she used to serve. It’s almost too easy to believe…and oh so good.”

— As told to Susan Puckett

Old Southern Tea Room Tomato Aspic Salad

The contributor: Barbara Ratner, an architect who lives in Atlanta with her husband, Gary Ratner, a former law professor who is now a scientist. She is originally from Indiana.

The story: Ratner will never forget her first encounter with aspic — even though she has tried.

“I was visiting my grandmother in Illinois and there was this beautiful mold on the table of what I thought was dark cherry Jell-O. But once I took a bite, it was all I could do to swallow. It was beet aspic, flavored with horseradish! I thought surely this must be some kind of cruel trick.”

Years later, while traveling through the Deep South in 1980, she ventured to try aspic again. It was a specialty at The Old Southern Tea Room in Vicksburg, Miss., and had been praised by Jane and Michael Stern in “Road Food.”

With a base reminiscent of a jiggly Bloody Mary, it proved an instant cure for her aspic-phobia — especially thanks to the addition of a spicy/creamy cheese ball suspended in the middle.

“I walked away with some sheets of recipes they were handing out but unfortunately didn’t buy the Tea Room cookbook. But I had what I wanted — the recipe for their Tomato Aspic Salad.”

Ratner sent a copy of it to us, noting: “This is a divine dish, and though it’s not an original family recipe of mine, I’m sending it to you in the hope that it will be saved.”

— As told to Susan Puckett