It is unlikely that a person will be found who would refuse to taste the aspic. You can talk a lot about this topic, the housewives will surely find the most varied recipes and unexpected “highlights” of cooking this dish. Homemade jelly can be cooked with pork or lamb, beef or veal. Some put only chicken or turkey in the jelly, others try to mix different types of meat. I must say that it’s generally not difficult to cook it, and once you prepare this delicacy for family or guests, you will take the recipe for armament and you will pamper yourself and loved ones much more often.
Let's talk about how to make delicious jellied meat: a recipe for cooking with pork legs. You will need a five liter pan. Take the three pork legs. If they are large - two is enough, if on the contrary, small - take four. Remember that the amount of certain ingredients is approximate, the proportions are inaccurate. When cooking jellied meat these accuracy is not needed. It doesn’t matter which meat you decide to add to the dish. Put the legs in the pan, fill with water to volume and set to cook. When the water begins to boil, remove the foam and put the onion (two in one) and a few cloves of garlic in the broth. Also add bay leaf, pepper. Today will your jelly be with chicken? Then, for convenience, cut it into several pieces and put it in the refrigerator. Putting it on the legs is necessary approximately two to three hours after their boiling. If game enters the jellied meat, then put it in the pan along with the legs. So hard meat is well cooked. We decided to add pork or veal - put the meat in the jellied meat an hour and a half after the legs. When you add the meat - salt and leave to cook on low heat under a lid for at least three hours. You will understand that the future aspic is cooked when you see that the legs are boiled, and the bones in them are easily separated. About an hour before readiness, you need to put two peeled carrots in a pan.
So, the meat is cooked. 20 minutes after turning off the heat, proceed to cutting. Take out the legs and carefully separate the bones. Cut the remaining skins and pieces of meat into a large bowl. Cut the chicken, chop the meat that was cooked with legs. It is better to mix all the resulting pulp. Strain the broth. Take a few large cloves of garlic and chop them. You can mix the garlic with meat, you can evenly distribute on plates in which you will put jellied meat. Usually these are three deep bowls. Cut the carrots in circles or half circles. Put them on the bottom of the plates. Now put the meat in plates and pour the broth. Put the future jelly in a cool place. When it cools down - send to the refrigerator. When the jelly is completely frozen, it is ready to eat. Now you have an idea of how to cook aspic. The recipe is simple and generalized, you can safely diversify it to your liking.
And now let's focus on some secrets and nuances. Everyone cooks the jelly in their own way, the recipe may be the same for everyone, but the taste will always be different. It depends on what spices you prefer, what meat you want to see in the composition of the dish.
- Jelly, the recipe for which involves the use of gelatin, is unlikely to be appreciated by guests and household. Real jellied meat is made without gelatin. The gelling effect gives the presence of pork legs (heads, tails, ears) and a long cooking process.
- Many advise putting several pieces of different meat into the jellied meat - a leg of ham, a little pork, a little beef. Then the taste will be especially rich.
- For a fragrant aroma, put celery root.
- Try not to add fatty meat to the jellied meat. The legs and cartilage already contain it, and if there is too much of it, then there will be a thick layer of fat on the frozen jellies, which will make the dish unappetizing.
- If you add an unpeeled onion to the broth during cooking, the color of the finished dish will be an amber or golden hue.
- The longer the jelly is cooked, the richer will be the taste of the finished dish.