If they ask me what kind of dish we certainly prepare in Russia for the biggest and greatest holidays, then I will answer without hesitation - of course, jelly. And not only in Russia, it is being prepared in Ukraine, and in Belarus, and among many other Slavic peoples.

This dish has a different name, in addition to the main one, it is also called aspic, jelly. The names are different, but the dish is essentially the same. It is not difficult to prepare, but what is interesting is that if you give each housewife the same standard set of products, then all the same, each of them will get their own dish, unlike any other! There is no single dish!

This delicious dish is prepared as an appetizer for weddings, Christmas, Epiphany and, of course, the New Year would be absolutely unthinkable without it! This big and cheerful holiday is coming soon. And if you don't know how to cook it yet, then there's time to learn!

One of my acquaintances says that if there is no jelly on the New Year's table, then there is no need to celebrate the holiday! And at the same time he always cooks it very tasty! He believes that it is simply impossible to come up with a better snack for vodka!

There are quite a few recipes for this amazing meat dish; it is prepared from pork, beef, chicken, and even fish. But the most delicious it is obtained from different types of meat. This is the so-called holiday option. It is with him that we will begin our today's selection of recipes.

And in the process of the story, I will share the main secrets that allow you to cook the most delicious one you can imagine, Kholodets, with a capital letter!

The festive dish is usually made with pork, beef and chicken. It is believed that the more meat of different types, the taste and it will be richer and richer.

Sometimes they ask - “Why add chicken? Is it possible to cook just chicken then?” Of course you can! But if we are preparing a festive version of the dish, then chicken meat will make it softer and more tender. And of course more delicious!

When choosing meat, you need to choose one where there are a lot of bones - these are the so-called gelatinous parts. If the meat is chosen correctly, then you do not have to add gelatin to thicken. It is believed that this dish does not provide for its addition. And properly cooked, it will harden itself without any gelatin.

We will need:

• beef shank - 1 kg
• pork knuckle - 1.3 kg
• pork leg - 1 pc. — 400 gr
• chicken legs - 1-2 pieces
• carrots - 2 pcs
• celery root - 0.5 pcs, celery root
• onions - 3-4 (small heads)
• bay leaf - 3-4 pieces
• black peppercorns - 20 pcs
• ground black pepper, salt - to taste
• boiled egg - 1-2 for decoration

Cooking:

1. Before you start cooking meat, it must be prepared. Examine from all sides, and if bristles-hairs remain on it, they must be set on fire. Then scrape the darkened part with a knife, and then rinse the meat in cool water.

Sometimes when buying legs, you can see that they are dark and ugly. They were scorched from the bristles and not cleaned. It is better to refrain from buying such legs. When cooking such meat, the broth will turn out to be dark and not attractive, moreover, it may have the smell of burnt bristles.

Well, if you still didn’t inspect and bought, then they need to be carefully scraped off with a knife and washed in plenty of water. And soak in water for 3 hours.

2. When the meat has been cleaned and washed, it must be put in a basin, or a large saucepan. And pour water at room temperature for 3 hours, no less. During this time, unnecessary blood will come out into the water, the water will turn pink. And the bad smell will go away.

When the meat begins to cook, less foam will stand out.

3. After the allotted time, take out the meat and transfer it to a prepared pan. It should be large enough, since the meat that we have cooked, plus a large amount of water, will not fit in the pan.

4. Fill with water. So that she only covered the meat. We put on a big fire. And until it boils, we don’t leave the kitchen anywhere. This is an important point. All the time, while the meat boils, remove the emerging foam. There won't be much, and that's good. Almost all the blood has already come out during the initial soaking.

5. As soon as the water boils, immediately reduce the heat and cook until it gurgles slightly for exactly 5 minutes. Then remove the meat with a slotted spoon and drain the water. Rinse the dishes in which it was cooked, rinse the meat, and again draw the right amount of water.

Usually, water for cooking is poured at the rate of 1 kg of meat - 1.4 -1.5 liters of water. This is provided that during the entire cooking process we will not add more water. And this condition is desirable to fulfill!

6. Now again you need to bring the water in the pan to a boil. And again, it is advisable not to leave the kitchen. Just remove the foam slowly, and wait until the water boils. It will happen much faster than the first time. The meat has already warmed up from the inside.

7. As soon as the water boils, immediately reduce the heat to a minimum.

If you skip this moment, and let the water boil violently even for 5-10 minutes, the broth will not be transparent. It will either turn white or cloudy.

And we need a transparent beautiful broth so that all the pieces of meat when pouring are visible at a glance!

8. That's it, they lowered the fire, covered it with a lid so that steam would come out, and you can forget about it for 4 hours, or even 5. From time to time, you can, of course, look to see if the water has boiled away. But if you have not forgotten about a small fire, then the broth will gurgle softly, and the meat will cook. And the water isn't going anywhere.

If the broth does not gurgle at all and does not boil slightly, then the meat will not cook. Follow it!

9. In this way, the meat will be cooked for at least 6 hours, and sometimes a little more is cooked. Its readiness is determined by the fact that the meat must completely move away from the bone.

10. An hour and a half before readiness, you need to add whole peeled carrots, celery root. I have it a little larger than a tennis ball, so I took half of it. You also need to add onions. I have small heads, and I put 4 of them, and I didn’t clean one, the largest one, but only took off the top “shirt” and put it together with the husk.

Such an onion must be especially thoroughly washed, and make sure that there is no mold or dirt under the husk layer.

Vegetables will give the broth the necessary aroma and color, which is important. Onions and carrots will give a golden hue, and celery root - a subtle subtle aroma.

11. Now, you can add a little salt to the broth, but not until cooked, but only so that the meat is saturated with taste. If you add salt right away, the water will boil away, and the broth may become too salty.

12. An hour before readiness, put peppercorns in the broth. And cook again.

If the onion starts to boil, no big deal. Do not remove it from the broth ahead of time, then we will find a way to remove it.

13. After six hours of cooking, we check whether all the meat is moving away from the bone and whether the broth is ready. You can check this by gently dipping your thumb and forefinger into the broth. Then, when it cools down a little, connect them together and try to separate them. The fingers should become sticky and stick together.

In general, meat for a dish is cooked from 6 to 8 hours. In any case, look at the condition of the meat. Let me remind you once again that the meat should easily move away from the bone.

14. Salt the broth until tender, add ground black pepper to taste and add bay leaf. Cook for another 10 minutes.

15. We remove the vegetables with a slotted spoon, take out the carrots carefully, we still need it. We will throw out the onion and celery root, so we get it as soon as we get it.

16. Remove the meat and bones with a slotted spoon into a large bowl. And wait for them to cool down a bit. We will disassemble them with our hands, so you need to wait for a comfortable temperature so that your fingers endure.

17. In the meantime, the meat is cooling, line a colander with three or four layers of gauze and strain the entire broth through it. Small bones and the remains of onions will remain on the gauze.

18. Determine in advance how you want to see the dish on your table. It is served either in small portioned salad bowls, or in one large container, a special tray. It is desirable that this container has a lid. Since the dish will be infused in the refrigerator all night, you will need to cover it so that it does not absorb unnecessary odors.

19. Another important point that I almost forgot about. Some people like to eat fatty foods, and some people can't stand them at all. We are in the middle of our family. My husband loves when there is a small fat layer, but I can’t eat fat at all.

Therefore, during cooking, I partially remove it. If you do not like fatty, then you can remove it all.

And then, when you already pour the broth into a tray or form and cool, all the fat will rise to the top. And then, when you eat, you can easily remove it with a knife, which I do. And so it turns out that no one is offended, everyone eats what they love more!

20. And so, the meat has cooled down and we will disassemble it now. It disassembles easily and simply, but the fingers will have to get dirty. We take one flat plate and two bowls deeper. On a plate with a knife, remove the meat from the bones and immediately divide it into fibers.

We put the bones in one bowl, and the meat removed and divided into parts - in another. Everything separates easily and quickly. So it won't take much time.

21. Cut carrots into curly stars. Peel the eggs and cut into slices. You can put them on the bottom if you later turn the form over. Or put the sliced ​​\u200b\u200bpieces on top if you serve the dish in the form.

22. Pour in a little cooled by the time the broth. You can fill in two different ways -

• pour the broth into the meat and mix the contents. In this case, the meat and the broth will be, as it were, together. In this case, first mix, and only then lay out the carrots and eggs.
• put the meat in the first layer, then pour the broth. In this case, you will get two separated layers. The first is meat, and the second is in the form of jelly.

23. In both cases, wait until the dish has cooled completely. And only after that put it in the refrigerator. It will take 3-4 hours for complete solidification. But I usually leave it overnight.

Well, if you are preparing it for the New Year, then it is very convenient to make it in advance, on December 30th. The dish will be perfectly stored until 31, unless, of course, no one eats it ahead of time. The temptation is too great.

In such cases, I usually prepare additional portions, which we eat on December 31 in the morning for breakfast. And then, until the evening, no one else tries to cut off a piece from a festive piece!

24. As mentioned above, the finished dish is served either in a large common tray or in special trays. Or we turn it over on a dish and serve in all its glory.

It's really not easy to do this. You can't just take it and turn it over. But there is a way. Slide a sharp knife along the side separating the frozen meat from the wall. Boil water in advance, pour it into a large container appropriate for the size of the tray. And lower the tray into the water for 30 seconds. Then put the dish on top of which you will turn over. And carefully flip over.

If the contents are capricious and do not want to be pulled out, lightly pick it up with a silicone spatula. Most importantly, give him momentum. And there he himself, under the influence of his gravity, will settle down on the dish offered to him.

25. The dish is served on the table, of course, with horseradish or mustard. Sometimes crushed garlic is mixed with mustard. And freshly squeezed lemon juice.

It should be noted that this is the so-called chopped jelly, but someone makes it ground. For this, the meat that was taken from the bones is twisted in a meat grinder. If desired, garlic is also added there. And only then all this is mixed with the broth and laid out in trays.

But I don't really like it in powdered form. I like it when the meat fibers are visible through the clear broth, and the meat is felt as whole pieces while eating. But here, of course, it's a matter of taste!

And of course, you need to say a few laudatory words for such a jellied meat. Yes, however, you can get by to determine its characteristics and one - MIRACLE!

Wonder how good! Delicate, rich, savory, delicious, fragrant, simply amazing - these are just a few simple words to try to describe its taste.

It is not for nothing that our friend respects and appreciates him so much, and does not sit down at the festive table without this meat appetizer.

All subsequent recipes are prepared in the same way as the first option. The only difference is in the composition of the ingredients. Therefore, if you want to cook a dish according to the following recipes, then read the first one - because it describes all the secrets of cooking!

Delicious homemade beef recipe

Such a dish can also be prepared for the holiday, and on weekdays it is also good! What is called "we prepare both for a feast and for the world." Someone prefers to cook it, as in the previous version, while someone does not want to use pork. And then you can cook a dish of one beef.

We will need:

• beef shank - 1.5 kg
• beef ribs - 1 kg
• beef neck (pulp) - 1 kg
• onion - 3-4 pcs
• carrots - 2 pcs
• celery root
• pepper3 black peas - 20 pcs
• bay leaf - 3 pcs

Cooking:

1. Rinse the meat and soak in water for 3 hours. Then drain the water.

2. Put the meat in a large saucepan and fill it with water so that the water just covers all the meat.

3. Let it boil, removing the foam. After 5 minutes of boiling, drain the water. And pour fresh water per 1 kg of meat - 1.4-1.5 liters of water.

4. Wait until it boils, constantly removing the foam. After boiling, reduce the heat to a minimum and cook for 4-5 hours.

5. Salt, add whole carrots, half a celery root and onion. Leave one onion in the skin.

6. When 6 hours have passed, check if the meat is moving away from the bone. It should separate very easily. If not, cook some more. Permissible cooking time up to 8 hours.

7. 10-15 minutes before the end of cooking, add ground black pepper and bay leaf to the broth.

8. Then take the meat out of the broth and disassemble it into fibers.

9. Strain the broth through 3-4 layers of gauze.

10. Put the meat in the tray and pour the broth.

11. Cool at room temperature and refrigerate overnight - solidify.

As you can see, the recipe is exactly the same as in the first version. We serve it in the same way as described above.

Another recipe, according to which, for example, we always prepare an everyday dish is with pork legs.

Pork or pork leg jelly

As you already understood, in this version we use only pork meat. Often I cook jelly only from pork legs. Of course, there is not so much meat in it as when you cook it with a knuckle, or with the addition of a piece of pork. But we really like this "Spartan" version!

We will need:

• pork legs - 4 pcs
• carrots - 1 pc.
• celery root - optional
• onion - 2 pcs
• peppercorns - 20 pcs
• bay leaf - 2-3 pieces
• salt, pepper - to taste

Or another option:

• pork knuckle -1.5 kg
• pork legs - 1 - 2 pcs
• pork neck - 500 gr
• carrots - 1 pc.
• celery root - optional
• onion - 2 pcs
• peppercorns - 20 pcs
• bay leaf - 2-3 pieces
• salt, pepper - to taste

Cooking:

I will not describe the entire cooking process, because I will not tell you anything new. Everything related to the secrets and cooking technology, I have already told in the first recipe. Therefore, we cook and cook according to the same scheme.

The only thing I will focus on is cleaning the legs. Legs are not always sold clean and white. Sometimes you need to remove the bristles from them and then clean them. Most likely, everyone knows how to remove bristles, or they don’t know, but they have seen it. But still, I will remind you.

I light the gas and hold the leg right over the fire in the place where the bristles remained. The smell is certainly not pleasant, but you have to be patient. Then, scrape off the burn marks with a knife, and then rinse with water. You also need to remove or clean the hooves very well. They are usually very dark in color and just ask to be removed altogether.

If the legs themselves are also dark, then they should also be carefully scraped with a knife, and then rinsed with water. And do not forget to soak them in water for 3 hours.

The rest of the dish is prepared in exactly the same way as in the first recipe. There are no changes in the recipe, all the principles and steps are the same!

Ready jelly can be served in a tray, or you can turn it over and put it on a dish.

It turns out pretty nice! And how delicious, words can not even describe!

"Pig" in a bottle

For the holidays, very often familiar and everyday dishes are prepared in some interesting way. And one of these forms is the “Piglet” jelly, which is poured into a plastic bottle.

Such a presentation invariably causes delight among all the guests. The pig on the festive table looks painfully positive. I think that such a dish may well decorate any New Year's table.

We will need:

• pork knuckle - 1 pc
• chicken legs - 2 pcs
• carrots - 1 pc.
• onion - 1 pc.
• celery root -0.5 pcs
• bay leaf - 2 pcs
• peppercorns - 7-10 pcs
• salt, ground black pepper - to taste

For registration:

• ham or boiled sausage
• cloves - 4 pcs

Cooking:

1. Wash the meat and pour water for 3 hours. Legs can not be filled with water. Then drain the water.

2. Put the meat and legs in a saucepan and fill it with water, so that it just covers the top. Bring to a boil, skimming off the foam.

3. Drain the water and refill with fresh water. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 hours.

4. Add peeled whole carrots and celery root. Remove the top shirt from the onion, wash and put in a saucepan, along with vegetables. Salt partially, add peppercorns.

5. After another hour, check whether the meat is moving away from the bone well, we are primarily interested in the shank. If the meat comes off easily, add the bay leaf, pepper to taste and taste the salt. Cook for another 20 minutes.

If the meat goes badly, cook even to the state we need.

6. We take out the meat from the broth, cool a little and separate the bones. Then we divide into fibers, or cut into cubes.

7. Strain the broth through several layers of gauze.

8. For the "pig" you can take 0.5 - 1 -1.5 liter plastic bottles. It all depends on the size you want.

9. Put the meat into the bottle, then pour the warm broth. Shake the contents, let cool and place in the refrigerator until completely solidified, at least 3 hours, and preferably overnight.

10. Before serving, carefully cut the bottle with a sharp knife or scissors on both sides. Put the jelly on a dish.

11. From ham, or boiled sausage, make ears and a patch. Make incisions on the crown and insert the ears into them. Attach the patch with a toothpick. Make eyes and nostrils out of cloves.

12. Serve with horseradish or mustard.

Such a "Piglet" will certainly be met at "Hurrah!" So take note of the recipe. I think it will definitely come in handy for you!

Meat for the "Piglet" can also be cooked in a slow cooker. The same goes for any other recipe.

How to cook jelly in a slow cooker

We will need:

• pork legs - 2 pcs
• chicken legs - 2 pcs
• onion - 1 pc.
• carrots - 1 pc.
• garlic - 0.5 heads
• salt, peppercorns
• water - 2.5 liters

Cooking:

1. Cut the chicken legs into pieces at the joints.

2. Clean the legs, wash and soak for 3 hours.

3. Put the meat, peeled onions and carrots into the multicooker bowl. Salt, put pepper and pour water.

4. Set the "Extinguishing" mode and extinguish for 6 hours. Check if the meat moves away from the bone, then the slow cooker can be turned off. If not, then you can wait another hour.

5. Remove the meat, remove the bones and divide into fibers.

6. Crush the garlic with a knife and add to the broth. Let stand 15-20 minutes. Then remove the garlic. Try to see if there is enough salt and pepper.

7. Put the meat in a tray or in molds and pour strained broth.

8. Leave at room temperature until completely cool, then refrigerate for 3-4 hours or overnight.

9. Serve in portions or put the tray on the table.

These are the main types of meat dishes. It is also prepared from chicken. But we will not touch on this topic today. And if you are interested in a similar issue, then you can where such dishes are prepared.

cooking secrets

And now I propose once again to dwell on the most basic stages of preparation, thanks to which your dish will always be delicious. And such surprises will never happen to him, such as unhardened jelly, overcooked or undercooked meat, or excessively salty, or hard and not at all fragrant broth.

After all, before they specifically checked whether the hostess knew how to cook jelly, and if she didn’t succeed, then they put her in the category of clumsy. What can I say, and among my friends there are those who do not have this dish at all. But I advise you not to give up, but rather read everything carefully, and following step by step. cook a dish that will make everyone gasp!

• the first thing to do is to buy the “right” meat. A good jelly is obtained from gelatinous parts, that is, the meat should be with bones. Legs, shank, shank, ears, tails, heads - just what you need! No matter how much you want, you don’t need to add a lot of pulp. As a last resort, if in doubt about the choice of meat, ask the seller in the meat department to tell you which meat to choose
• remember that veins, cartilage, skin, skin contribute to the solidification of the broth
• the most delicious dish is obtained from different types of meat
• be sure to add a chicken leg or two. It will be so much tastier
• meat must be soaked in cool water for 3 hours before cooking
• the first water must be drained 5 minutes after boiling
• bring the second water to a boil, be sure to remove the foam, and then reduce the gas to a minimum. The meat should only gurgle slightly, but in no case should it boil. Otherwise, the broth will turn out dark and opaque.
• we take water in the ratio per 1 kg of meat - 1.4 -1.5 liters
• Try not to add water during the cooking process. But if it doesn't work, then add at least boiling water.
• sometimes the broth is clarified with egg white, but if you cook correctly, you will not need this procedure.
• cook meat for at least 6, but not more than 8 hours. Until the meat is free from the bone
• adding vegetables when cooking is a must! Thanks to them, the broth acquires a beautiful color and aroma.
• add the onion in the peel, it will give a beautiful golden color
• adding spices is a must, otherwise the dish will turn out “fresh”
• salt twice, the first time a little after 4 hours, and the second time at the end of cooking, already tasting the broth
• after putting the meat into a mold and pouring it with broth, it must be allowed to cool at room temperature
• after which it must be cooled. It is sometimes believed that you can keep aspic on a balcony or street with sub-zero temperatures, so that it will freeze better. If it freezes, it may be better, but it will completely lose all its taste, aroma, delicate texture and softness.

• serve the dish with horseradish or mustard. Who wants to take advantage, who does not want to refuse. But these additional components must be supplied to it!

I hope that with today's selection of recipes, you can easily cook a truly delicious jelly. I also hope that the article and cooking tips will be useful to you.

And if you want to see more and other recipes, then there are such recipes. And you can see them in a special article "How to cook jelly" http://kopilpremudrosti.ru/

After all, the New Year is just around the corner! And what is the New Year without a real traditional Russian dish! Therefore, we do not need to break traditions - we will definitely cook it!

After all, this dish turns out to be truly beautiful and festive, and you can’t even talk about the taste. Everyone knows him so well!

Bon appetit!

we need: 1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup corn starch (you can use potato starch)
1/4 cup water
Mix everything in a teflon-coated pan.

put on fire, stirring constantly, in just a minute the soda will hiss and lumps will begin to form

we continue to stir, after a couple of minutes such a lump is formed that easily moves away from the walls

transfer to a towel, carefully it is hot

and knead like a regular dough. the dough does not stick to your hands, and does not require the use of oil and any creams, the lump is small

painted with acrylic paint and lipstick. Store HF in a plastic bag, tightly closed

stuck these roses, they do not crack!!!

I tried this recipe for the first time last year. But I did it with potato starch, the color turned out to be grayish. This flower has been living with me for a year, this is one of the first sculpting samples, a flower of an unknown breed and primitive, I shift it from box to box, it has not yet been used

Twice I tried to cook HF according to classic recipes, but unsuccessfully. But I still hope that someday I'll be lucky and it will turn out, but for now I'm content with this. Thanks to everyone who came to visit, everyone is very happy

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we need: 1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup corn starch (you can use potato starch)
1/4 cup water
Mix everything in a teflon-coated pan.

put on fire, stirring constantly, in just a minute the soda will hiss and lumps will begin to form

we continue to stir, after a couple of minutes such a lump is formed that easily moves away from the walls

transfer to a towel, carefully it is hot

and knead like a regular dough. the dough does not stick to your hands, and does not require the use of oil and any creams, the lump is small

painted with acrylic paint and lipstick. Store HF in a plastic bag, tightly closed

stuck these roses, they do not crack!!!

I tried this recipe for the first time last year. But I did it with potato starch, the color turned out to be grayish. This flower has been living with me for a year, this is one of the first sculpting samples, a flower of an unknown breed and primitive, I shift it from box to box, it has not yet been used

Twice I tried to cook HF according to classic recipes, but unsuccessfully. But I still hope that someday I'll be lucky and it will turn out, but for now I'm content with this. Thanks to everyone who came to visit, everyone is very happy. Do you like watch-shaped mobile phones? If you want to buy a watch phone in Ukraine, I invite you to visit the Chasofon.com.ua online store website. Here you will find a large selection of this ingenious innovation that combines a chronometer and a means of communication. Models of the new generation are factory-made, they are branded and reliable, this is an amazing choice at a minimum cost and a guarantee of performance. I wish you a successful stylish purchase!

Winter ahead. This means that jelly will appear on the tables - one of the best winter meat snacks. Delicious amber-clear with the taste of strong broth - jelly is considered a national Russian dish. And every family, every housewife has her own secret recipes for jelly: someone prefers thick meat, someone likes transparent with bright accents of carrots and greens, while the main thing in jelly is fresh sugar bone or shank! Cooking jellied meat will require patience from the cook, but the result is worth it. We will learn how to cook jelly correctly, how much to cook jelly, what meat to choose for it and how to cook a transparent fragrant jelly.

How to cook jelly

The golden rule is that jelly should harden without the addition of gelatin and agar-agar. If you follow simple rules: choose the right meat and bones and fill them with the right amount of water and cook for the required time, then your jelly will harden by itself. And, if, moreover, the jelly is cooked correctly, the broth will remain transparent and appetizing!

How to choose meat for jelly

In the old days, jelly was cooked from those parts of beef or pork carcasses for which there was no other use: legs, heads, tails. However, now we have the opportunity to put any meat in the jelly, but do not forget that it is the bony-cartilaginous component that is responsible for the freezing of the jelly. So, in order to properly cook jelly, follow the rules:

• for the taste of jelly:
  • choose the meat that you like best: pork (pork knuckle), beef (beef edge), rabbit, turkey, chicken (old roosters are especially good), and the meat of wild animals will give the jelly a unique taste;
  • meat and legs must be fresh, in which case you will get a fragrant broth, and therefore a delicious jellied meat;
  • before pouring, you can add finely chopped garlic to the boiled meat, pepper, mix well and only then lay it out in the forms.
• to freeze cold:
  • there should not be a lot of meat in the jelly recipe - keep the proportions: for one part of the legs, take about two parts of the rest of the meat;
  • in order for the broth to solidify without gelatin, it is imperative to use legs, drumsticks or tails; veins, cartilage, skin, and skin also contribute to the solidification of the broth;
  • water should cover the products by about two centimeters;
  • cook jellied meat for at least 6 hours.
• for the beauty of jelly:
  • jelly from beef or lamb legs will be more transparent than jelly from pork shank;
  • drain the first water;
  • do not let it boil intensively;
  • remove foam;
  • before pouring into molds, strain the broth through 4 - 6 layers of gauze.

How to cook transparent jelly

Before cooking jellied meat, legs, tails and so on should be soaked, this will allow you to cook a more transparent broth, because soaking will remove blood clots and other small particles that can turn into tatters. So, rinse the meat, scrape the legs, singe if necessary, and rinse too. Prepared products should be poured with cold water and left. Drain the water periodically. Usually it is enough to change 2-3 times to stop blushing. Before preparing the jelly, the water in which the meat and legs were soaked must be drained.

For greater transparency, some housewives recommend draining the first water, which means: bring the food to a boil and drain the water, rinse the legs and meat again, pour cold water again, bring to a boil, remove the foam and cook over low heat.

Be sure to skim off the foam during the entire cooking time. To keep the jellied meat transparent, do not allow the contents of the pan to boil intensively. If you do not follow these rules, you will get cloudy jelly.

How much water to pour into jelly

An important rule that often does not fall into the jelly recipe is that meat and shanks are poured only with cold water and it should not be too much or too little! This is a very important point in the preparation of jelly. During the cooking process, water is no longer added, so initially pour the right amount of water into the pan. Different housewives give different ways to determine the amount of water for jelly, remember the simplest one: the water should be about two centimeters above the level of the meat.

How much to cook jelly

Aspic recipes clearly say: aspic is cooked for a long time! Meat and bones should languish over low heat, gradually giving the broth taste and aroma. Only in this way will you be able to properly prepare a delicious jelly - fragrant, rich and perfectly solidified. So, pouring clean products with cold water, bring everything to a boil, remove the foam and reduce the heat to such an extent that your broth gurgles quietly. Don't forget to skim off any foam and grease if you like. It is also recommended to cook jellied meat without a lid.

Important! Jellied meat cooking time - at least 6-8 hours!

What to put in jelly

• an onion peeled from the first layer of husk - two hours before the end of cooking aspic;
• carrots - an hour before the end of cooking jellied meat;
• peppercorns - half an hour before the end of cooking jellied meat;
• bay leaf - half an hour before the end of cooking jellied meat.

Greens, which will give the dish not only taste, but also a pleasant appearance, are also better to put 5-10 minutes before the end of cooking. If you want the taste of fresh herbs to be felt in the dish, then add the herbs when you pour the jelly into molds.

How much salt to put in jelly

How to salt aspic - depends on your taste. In general recommendations, it is advised to salt the jelly no earlier than an hour before readiness. Many salt jelly after it is cooked. And you need to add more salt than you are used to. The broth should become quite salty, it may even seem salty to some. This is what will allow him, when solidified, to become a dish perfectly balanced in salt. Undersalted jellied meat will be tasteless and insipid.

How to check if the jelly is ready

After the cooking time has elapsed, the housewives recommend checking whether the jelly has solidified, in this way: scoop up a little broth, cool slightly and moisten your fingers with it, if the fingers stick together when squeezed, then the broth is strong enough and the jelly can be considered ready for pouring.

How to disassemble and pour jelly

When the jellied meat is cooked, let it stand for about 20 minutes and proceed to the analysis: to separate the meat from the bones and cartilage. The meat is removed from the broth with a slotted spoon. It is removed from the bones and separated from the cartilage, skin. The meat is cut or disassembled with fingers into small pieces. It is often recommended to add finely chopped cartilage to the meat, so the jelly will be more dense. By the way, some housewives recommend adding finely chopped garlic to the meat, pepper, mix well and only then lay it out in forms. To decorate the jelly, you can cut out circles or stars from carrots that were boiled in jelly, you can lay out leaves of fresh herbs and olives, cut in half. Prepared meat and vegetables should be poured with strained broth. You can mix, or you can leave the meat and jelly in layers.

Aspic freezing

First, the jelly is cooled at room temperature. After that, it can be put in the refrigerator. It is impossible to freeze jellied meat, it will lose its tenderness and softness, and it will lose its taste.

What to serve with jelly

Kholodets is usually served at the festive table with vodka with horseradish, mustard, mayonnaise, vinegar or beets with horseradish.

Simple jelly recipes

Now that you know how to cook jellied meat correctly, how much to cook jellied meat, how to cook a transparent tasty jellied meat, it's time to try to do it in practice. Simple recipes for jellied meat have been selected for you.

Recipe Triple aspic or Aspic from three types of meat

1 beef knuckle
2 pork knuckles
1 whole chicken
2 carrots
2 onions
2 parsley roots
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp black pepper
3-4 bay leaves
3 garlic cloves
salt

Rinse the meat in cold water and soak overnight. Drain the water. Pour the meat with clean cold water and put on medium heat. Before boiling, remove the foam and remove it regularly as it appears. After boiling, reduce the fire and cook over low heat with a barely noticeable boil for 8 hours. Do not close the jellied lid. If the meat is fatty, remove the fat every hour. After 2-3 hours of cooking, throw peeled carrots, parsley root, onions into a saucepan with aspic. An hour before the end of cooking aspic, throw peppercorns into the broth - black and fragrant, bay leaf. After 8 hours of cooking, remove the meat for parsing, and remove and discard the vegetables, salt the broth. Cut the meat into small pieces and place in a bowl. Pour in strained broth and let cool to room temperature. To harden, remove the jellied meat in the refrigerator.

Beef leg jelly recipe

2.2 kg beef leg
3 tablespoons of salt
black peppercorns
Bay leaf

Rinse the lower part of the beef leg, pour boiling water over it and let it boil. Drain the water and rinse again. Pour the meat on the bones again with cold water. The water should completely cover the meat. Bring to a boil over high heat. As soon as the broth boils, remove the foam, reduce the heat and cook for about 6 hours. Until the meat separates easily from the bone. 20 minutes before the end of cooking, add salt, peppercorns, bay leaf. Remove the cooked meat from the broth, separate from the bones. Strain the broth through a sieve, as small bones can be caught. Meat, and if available, cartilage and skins that have boiled to a soft state, finely chop. Divide the chopped meat evenly into trays or bowls. On top of the meat, you can add 2-3 circles of boiled carrots to each tray for beauty, as well as a little finely chopped garlic for flavor. Pour strained broth, distributing it evenly over all trays. Put trays with jellied meat in the refrigerator to harden.

Recipe Pork leg jelly

1 kg pork legs
2 carrots
2 onions
Black peppercorns
2-3 bay leaves
Salt

Wash and scrape pork legs, singe, remove hooves. Soak 3-4 hours. Pour the legs with water so that it covers them by 5 cm and put on a strong fire, bring to a boil. Drain and pour new water, bring to a boil again, remove the foam, put to cook on a slow fire. Boil for about 8 hours. An hour and a half before the end of cooking, put the peeled carrots and onions in the peel. After another 40 minutes - add pepper and bay leaf. Remove meat and vegetables with a slotted spoon. Vegetables - throw away. And the meat is separated from the bones and cartilage, finely chopped. Arrange in forms. Strain the broth and pour the meat into molds. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for a few hours until set.

Recipe Kholodets in a slow cooker

2 pork legs
2 chicken legs
2.5 liters of water
1 bulb
½ head of garlic
Salt
peppercorns

Rinse the legs, peel and soak for 2-3 hours. Chop the chicken into pieces (the leg can be cut into three parts). Peel the onion, put meat and onions, spices and salt into the bowl of the multicooker, pour water to the maximum. When the jelly is cooked, remove the meat, remove it from the bones and cut into small pieces. Add crushed garlic cloves to the broth. They insist while we are engaged in meat. Taste and salt if needed. Put the meat in molds, filling them half or two-thirds. Pour in strained broth. Cool at room temperature and then place in the refrigerator to chill.

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Recipe Information

• Cuisine:Russian
• Type of dish: appetizer
• Cooking method: boiling
• Servings:6-8

Products for simple meat jelly

To get a delicious fragrant and meat jelly, you need to prepare:

• • • pork legs - 2 pieces;
    • beef leg (lower part with a hoof) - 1 piece;
    • pork and beef lips - 2 each;
    • small knuckle;
    • half a soup chicken.

Here are the meat ingredients for a simple recipe. Legs and lips cost mere pennies, a knuckle is a little more expensive, and chicken is much cheaper than selected meat.

Cooking

Rinse all products well with running water and dry a little. Place in a large saucepan. It is better if it is large in volume, but at the same time shallow, so that all the meat fits tightly along the bottom of the container, otherwise it will be difficult to determine the amount of water.

Put between the meat a few leaves of parsley, peppercorns, a medium-sized onion - unpeeled, along with golden husks and a couple of carrots cut lengthwise (pre-peel). Pour water, certainly cold, over the entire contents so that it covers the meat a quarter of the height more. Add salt and put on high heat.

Before boiling, be sure to remove the foam, and as soon as it boils, immediately reduce the heat to the smallest. Close the lid and leave to simmer. Check periodically to prevent boiling. The broth should barely simmer. If necessary, you can slightly open the lid of the pan. Such languor should occur for at least 6-7 hours.

Determining the degree of readiness is very simple. After about 6 hours of cooking, pick up the legs or knuckle with a slotted spoon. If the meat fell off voluntarily and very easily, then the process is nearing completion. Now it is worth determining how close the end is. To do this, try to reset the remaining bones on the slotted spoon from the legs back. If the small components are easily scattered and separated from the joints - everything is ready.

But you also need to immediately evaluate the stickiness of the broth, so that you don’t have to digest it later, add gelatin, but just be sure that the jelly will harden properly. Run two fingers over the slotted spoon, which is fresh from the broth, and press them together. If on the third attempt (when the liquid on the fingers has cooled) the fingers stick one to the other, there is no doubt that the finished jelly will be dense.

Of course, the time given is approximate, it may turn out to be seven or eight hours until ready. Just start checking is not earlier than six hours.

Packaging

When everything is ready, you can begin the process of disassembling the meat. Remove all contents from the broth into a large but shallow container - this will help it cool faster. Catch the onion, pepper and bay leaf with the same slotted spoon.

Prepare jellied molds. These can be containers, enameled bowls, or simply plates. It is better to disassemble the meat with the help of two forks and a knife, since this must be done before everything has cooled down and stuck together. Since all meat products are boiled so that everything is separated from each other, it is easy to see where the meat is, where the bones are, where the veins are.

Immediately select all the meat pieces, disassemble them into small ones. Separate the meat from the lips (and there is enough of it) from the skin. Spread everything out evenly at once.

In each container with meat, add a piece of carrot boiled in broth, a few thin slices of garlic and a couple of sprigs of parsley. And pour hot broth. The broth must be poured carefully, not quickly overturning the ladle so that the meat does not fall apart. Otherwise, it may turn out that in the place where the liquid was poured, there will be no meat at all, and in another place it will be up to the top.

With such a spill, the liquid jelly will not be so hot that it cannot be put in the refrigerator. So, then you just need to set the forms in the cold and leave them there for the night, or for 10 hours.

Here the jelly is ready. The longest part was sorting out the meat. I did not have to chop, butcher or carry out other manipulations. Everything is simple and effortless. Yes, and little money was spent.

Such a dish can be prepared without certain events, but just for dinner, for the weekend, in a word, as you like.

Jellied recipe in a pressure cooker

A pressure cooker, conventional or electric, can be a good lifesaver. In it, the cooking process will take no more than 4 hours. But it needs a little less meat products, since its volume does not exceed 5-7 liters.

The easiest way to cook this way is jelly from a small shank, to which add a pork leg, a pair of lips and a pair of ears for stickiness. All this will give a good fat for the viscosity of the broth, and there is enough meat in the shank and in the lips.

If the pressure cooker is electric, then it usually has a jellied mode. You can just use it. But in practice, this time is not enough. If there is a lot of meat in the bowl, and a little more water, then you should manually adjust the cooking time to one and a half to two hours. If you want more jelly in the finished jelly, then you need to pour more water, respectively. In this case, the time should be increased to three hours.

If the pressure cooker is ordinary, for the stove, then do everything as always. Put an open pan on a strong fire, wait for the formation of foam, remove it. Then close the lid tightly, and as soon as the steam valve whistles, turn it down to a minimum. Cook for 3-4 hours.

This difference is obtained because in an electric pressure cooker the valve is tighter, the steam almost does not come out, the pressure is higher, which means that the readiness will be faster. A simple pressure cooker does not have such a tight valve, it is more mobile on it and the pressure inside is lower.

If there is such an assistant in the kitchen, then the jelly will not cause any trouble at all, except for parsing the meat.

You can also cook a very budget version of jelly. Legs, ears, lips, tails - all this will provide excellent viscosity and richness. You can choose a good amount of meat from the lips, and soft films and joints will complement the meat component with quantity.

You can also cook from a pig's head. True, it will have to be cut, but since this is not an easy task, it is better to do it right at the seller. You need to cook it in the same way as a regular jelly. There is a lot of meat in it, so the finished jelly will turn out to be filled with meat.

And a couple more tricks. The first concerns the spill of jelly. Instead of molds and bowls, plastic bottles can be prepared. Wrap them tightly with lids, and cut off the top of the sidewall to make it look like a boat. This is where you pour the jelly. When it hardens, it remains to cut the plastic along to remove it from the jelly, like a casing. This form of the finished dish is very convenient to serve: you can cut it like a sausage.

The second trick is about storage. The fact is that jelly is stored very little, this is an insidious dish in terms of its expiration date: it may not give the impression of being spoiled either in appearance or smell, but already be so. Therefore, if after three days everything has not been eaten, then the remaining aspic can be cut into large pieces and frozen. Eat raw, of course, then it won’t work, but use it for cooking soups - as much as you like.