Jellied meat cooked from pork legs adores a significant number of people. Mostly this dish is popular on Christmas and New Year holidays. It is very appetizing and healthy. The article describes several recipes for making delicious jelly from pork legs, and also gave advice to housewives.
How is jellied meat?
Jellied meat is a dish that has a thick consistency formed from broth. The classical method of preparation does not involve the use of gelatin or agar-agar for solidification. Therefore, in this embodiment, aspic cannot be called aspic. But modern housewives are actively using thickeners for “safety net”.
Jellied pork legs are obtained due to the presence of gelling substances in the pork bone, which are cooked during preparation and freeze when cooled. For the best effect, it is recommended to cut the bones, so access to the substance will be open.
Every housewife should know that jellied meat is a high-calorie dish, the excessive consumption of which threatens blood vessel diseases.
The benefits of the dish
Many families prefer to see jelly on feasts according to the established tradition. But not everyone knows about its usefulness. One of the main advantages of the dish is the presence of collagen in it - a building protein for every cell in the body.
In addition to collagen, aspic is rich in such elements:
- Vitamins (especially group B) - positively affect the formation of hemoglobin.
- Lysine is a special acid that affects the best absorption of calcium and helps in the fight against viruses.
- Fatty acids - soothe the human nervous system.
- Glycine - is responsible for the activation of the brain, reduces irritability and fatigue.
- Gelatin - helps to improve joint function.
Mistresses decide in advance how to cook jelly from pork legs: with or without gelatin. Jellied looks extremely juicy. In order to give the dish a festive look, it can be decorated with greens.
Jellied pork and chicken: recipe
There are many recipes for making jelly. Consider a cooking recipe that includes chicken. To pork jelly was not too fat, many housewives add to the composition of the bird. Thus, the amount of meat in the jelly is preserved and fat content is reduced.
For cooking, it is advised to choose a rooster. Then the broth will become rich and will have a special aroma. The key to success is the choice of only fresh meat, chilled, but not frozen. How and how much to cook jelly from pork legs and chicken? This process is lengthy and takes about 5-6 hours. The main feature is the complete separability of pork meat from bones.
Ingredients for cooking:
- 2 pork legs;
- 1 chicken;
- 1 carrot (as much as possible, leave boiled for decoration);
- bulb;
- a piece of pork weighing 500 grams;
- bay leaf 1 piece;
- salt and pepper - in accordance with taste preferences.
These ingredients will be enough to prepare ten plates of delicious jellied meat.
From pork legs and beef
According to the recipe, it is recommended to take a pork leg or drumstick with skin and add a beef leg to it. Then the pork and beef jellied meat will solidify well. When using only beef pulp, the result can be disappointing. The only way out is to use gelatin.
Ingredients required for cooking:
- pork legs - 4 pieces;
- beef tenderloin.
You will also need vegetables:
- carrots - 3 pieces;
- celery;
- bulbs - 2 pieces.
Spice:
- bay leaf - 6 pieces;
- black pepper peas to taste.
Cooking time is also about 6 hours. The older the meat, the longer it needs to be boiled. For example, middle-aged stiff beef should be cooked for 7-8 hours.
Jellied pork legs and shanks: recipe
Usually, for this recipe, only pork legs and shank are taken as the basis.
You will need these ingredients:
- drumstick and leg - 1 each;
- black peppercorns - 8 pieces;
- garlic - 1 small head or 4 large teeth;
- salt - ½ teaspoon or according to the preferences of the hostess.
The process of making jellied meat is almost the same for all recipes. Only time is different. This type of dish should be cooked for 5-6 hours, while the lid must be left closed.
Cooking right: step by step instructions
To know how to cook delicious jelly from pork legs, you need to carefully read the instructions.
So, the cooking process includes the following steps:
- To cook jellied meat you will need a large deep pan of 10-12 liters. Water should be added in a volume of 8 liters, because the jelly will be boiled and boiled for a very long time.
- Drop the onion into the container in its entirety. It is not necessary to cut it, since it is needed for the brew. Cut the carrots into three parts and send it to the onion. It is also necessary for the broth. After cooking, the vegetables are thrown out with the bones.
- We send the chicken to the pan in its entirety. You do not need to cut it.
- Pork legs should be cut into three parts and added to the rest of the ingredients. A piece of pork is sent to the container without chopping.
- We put the pot of food on the fire and cook until the meat begins to separate from the bones. It will take a lot of time. But the result will justify the cost. The broth should be cooked for a minimum of three to four hours.
- During cooking, you need to periodically remove the emerging foam. Otherwise, the jelly will turn cloudy.
- 30-40 minutes before the end of cooking, add bay leaf and non-ground pepper (peas), and add the broth twenty minutes before the end.
- Next, pull the meat from the broth and put it on a separate dish. After cooling, separate from the bones.
- Filter the broth with a sieve into another pan. This is required so that the jelly turns out to be clean and small bones do not fall into it. After all this is done, you can throw away bones and vegetables (carrots and onions). Remains the meat that was previously crushed, and strained broth.
- Now we turn to pouring jellied meat.
- It is necessary to prepare clean plates in advance, in them we lay out pieces of meat in equal quantities to the bottom. It is better that in each plate there was meat of chicken or beef, and pork. Next, fill the dish with broth. He must cover the meat completely.
- After the whole jelly has been poured on plates, it must be transferred to a cold place for cooling. In winter, you can put it on the balcony, and in summer put it in the refrigerator.
Jellied decoration
Now that the hostess knows how to cook jelly from pork legs, the next question that will interest her is how to decorate the dish.
All kinds of delicious vegetables, pickles, eggs are used for decoration.
Here are some suggestions:
- You can lay jewelry on the bottom of the container with jellied meat and on meat.
- The dish is especially beautiful if the correct cooking process is followed and the broth is as transparent as possible.
- Boil eggs and carrots, cool and cut into thin slices. It is necessary to be careful when working with eggs, yolks can crumble or fall out.
- Pickled cucumbers and lemon are also cut into thin circles.
- For decoration, you can also use greens: dill or parsley.
- To brighten, red sweet pepper, canned corn, and cranberries are suitable.
- Many housewives try to make flowers from strips of vegetables or cut out vegetables of a special shape: hearts, triangles and the like.
How to serve a dish?
How to cook jellied meat from pork legs and shanks, as well as how to decorate it, is described above. We will figure out how to properly serve the dish.
Jellied meat can be cooked both in standard utensils - pots, plates, and in unusual dishes, for example, muffins.
Serve the finished dish with:
- mustard, which will give a piquant taste;
- horseradish or adjika - for lovers of hot seasonings;
- sour cream;
- vinegar
- lemon juice;
- pickles or sauerkraut.
Usually, in addition to jellied meat, vegetable salads are also served on the table, on a separate dish - garlic, green onions and herbs - in addition to jellied meat.
Useful tips for hostesses
To know how to cook jellied meat from pork legs, chicken or beef, it is worth considering some of the nuances in cooking.
Some useful tips:
- In case there is a desire to decorate jellied meat with carrots, then towards the end of cooking add vegetables as a whole to the jellied meat. From boiled carrots, you can then cut beautiful figures to decorate the dish.
- If you add salt to the jelly in advance, then in the process of boiling water, it may happen that the saturation of the broth increases. But if you add salt at the very end, then the meat does not have time to soak it.
- Throughout the time when the jelly is cooked, it should not be mixed.
- The shelf life of jelly in the refrigerator is from two to three days. But the best option would be to eat on the day of serving.
- What actions should be taken if the jelly is not frozen? First of all, do not be upset. All this is fixable. So that after all, the jelly can thicken, it is worth pouring it into a pan and boiling for several minutes, then add a little gelatin (in accordance with the instructions).
- It should also be remembered: the more jewelry is added to the jelly, the less will be its shelf life, so do not overdo it with the jewelry.
How to replace pork?
Jellied pork legs are useful, but many have problems with the gastrointestinal tract, and such a dish becomes a "heavy" product. " Less fatty analogue is beef.
Jellied meat can also be made from chicken, fish, rabbit, turkey or game. In these cases, gelatin has to be added, because the gelling components in the bones of these animal species are not enough.
In addition to gelatin, you can use offal: ears, lips, tails or the head.
Hostess reviews
Undoubtedly, the jelly from pork legs, shanks and beef is a favorite dish for many. Mistresses leave such reviews and recommendations on the preparation of goodies:
- It is better to choose meat with cartilage and veins. They help the joints recover. It turns out that aspic has a healing effect.
- Modern recipes suggest cooking jellied meat not only on the stove. You can cook meat in the oven, pressure cooker, slow cooker - it is practical and takes less time.
- For cooking, you need to choose the freshest meat, otherwise it will cook for a very long time and may still remain harsh.
- The product must be fresh, chilled. In no case should you take a freeze. There is a risk to get not only old meat, but also spoiled.
- It is possible to experiment with decorations, to give the dish a special look.
- It is better to get jellied meat from minced meat than rolled through a meat grinder.
- The main nuance is a correctly selected recipe. Since the taste preferences of each person are different, then the recipe needs to be selected or improved "for yourself."
- It is recommended to refrain from frequent use of the dish, it is high-calorie and rather fat.
Jellied pork legs like to cook in almost any family. Cooking this dish on New Year and Christmas holidays has become a pleasant tradition. Jellied meat is a very tasty, nutritious, and most importantly useful addition to any table.