It is no secret that aspic from zander was considered the secret weapon of Soviet housewives: fish was available, even imposed for consumption, but how to cook it in such a way as to use all parts, from head to tail, and at the same time feed the whole friendly family and neighbors?
It is not known exactly when the fish aspic was invented - perhaps it was a mistake or an experiment by one cook who found that fish jelly is not at all as nasty and useless as it is imagined.
Pike perch aspic recipe
Ingredients: actually, pike perch - 0.6 kg, onions - 1 pc., Carrots - 1 pc., Celery stalk, spices (bay leaf, 5 peas of allspice, salt), egg white, a glass of white dry wine, gelatin in granules.
Can be used as decoration: lemon, hard-boiled quail eggs , greens, peas, lingonberries or cranberries, red caviar.
To cook aspic from zander, the fish must first be gutted and cleaned - if this is not a ready-made carcass from the store. Having removed the insides and having cleaned the scales with fins, we cut the fish along the ridge, remove the bones, head and tail (do not throw it away). Salt the fillet and wrap it in foil with the skin down.
Preheat the oven to hundreds of degrees and set the pike perch to bake in it for about 1 hour - the fish will turn out juicy and low-fat. After getting out of the oven, drain the juices, pack the fillet in cling film and set to cool in the refrigerator overnight.
Fill the remaining parts of the pike perch - the bones, the head with water a finger above the level - this is necessary to cook the broth. Add spices, vegetables - pre-chopped carrots and celery, peeled and chopped onions to the pan. Salt to taste and cook over medium heat without a lid for about 15 minutes. After which, pour the wine, bring to a boil and leave to cook for another 15 minutes. Then we also remove it overnight so that the particles in the broth settle and the liquid is filtered.
Now we get the fish and deploy. To cook aspic from zander, 300-400 g of fillet requires a liter of very rich broth. We filter it through cheesecloth. We read the instructions for gelatin - it should be enough to cover the entire broth. Soak gelatin in small portions, heat the rest of the broth over low heat.
Add that small amount of gelatin to our pan. A little trick: to make the aspic from pike perch transparent and bright, you can whip the egg white and add to the broth at this stage. As soon as the protein rises, turn off the broth.
You may need to boil the broth again to achieve uniformity. We filter it through cheesecloth and let cool to room temperature.
Serve the finished aspic
You can pick up small portioned molds, or you can, according to the tradition of Soviet hostesses, choose an oblong dish for aspic. Pour a small layer on the bottom of the container and put it in the refrigerator. When the layer hardens, we spread the cut (or whole) carcass of pike perch on it. Top with broth - a rather thin layer, and put until jelly is formed in the refrigerator.
Seafood aspic cooked in this way can be decorated with anything, because transparent jelly fits any table. We suggest using small peas, berries and eggs, halves of a quail egg and olive, sprigs of parsley, basil and cilantro.