Homemade jelly recipe. How to check if the jelly is ready

Good afternoon everyone!! I have prepared for you today a very tasty selection of an interesting dish, I would even say such a peculiar snack that not everyone loves, but most just adore! So, attention, we will cook jelly today.

Studen is a dish of chilled meat broth thickened to a jelly-like mass with pieces of meat. The snack has a peculiar taste and is very healthy. And cooking it is quite simple, if you disassemble all the nuances of cooking. To this I dedicate our article.

Here are the basic rules for preparing this appetizer:

1. You can cook jelly from one type of meat or from a combination of several types.
2. The broth is best cooked from pork or beef legs, ears, lips, knuckles, so the dish will harden well. But do not forget to add meat pieces.
3. Meat for snacks should be taken not frozen, but fresh. But don't take too much.
4. Before cooking, it is better to soak the meat in order to remove the remnants of clotted blood from it.
5. Boil the meat in a large container, constantly removing the foam.
6. The first water after boiling must be drained.
7. Water cannot be added during the cooking process, so immediately determine the right amount of water.
8. It should be boiled for 5 to 10 hours over low heat.
9. You need to salt the dish at the end of cooking.
10. Carrots and other roots can be added to the broth.
11. It is better not to use a lot of spices.
12. If you have a pressure cooker, cook aspic in it for only 40-50 minutes.
13. Meat can be disassembled by hand or finely chopped with a knife.
14. Remove fat from the finished dish.

We will start preparing our hearty pork appetizer, because this particular recipe was the most popular in Rus', and today remains in demand.

Ingredients:

• Pork legs - 1-2 pcs.;
• Pork meat - 1-1.5 kg;
• Carrot - 1 pc.;
• Onion - 1 pc.;
• Garlic - 1 head;
• Salt, black peppercorns, bay leaf.

Cooking method:

1. Rinse pork feet thoroughly in hot water. Rinse the meat too and put everything in a large saucepan. Fill with cold water and put on fire to boil. Put a whole peeled onion and a whole or coarsely chopped peeled carrot in a saucepan with meat. When the broth boils, remove the foam and fat from it. After we close the pan with a lid, leaving a small crack, and cook over low heat for at least 5-6 hours. An hour before the end of cooking, add salt, peppercorns and bay leaf. After 6 hours, turn off the heat and leave the meat to cool.

2. When the meat has cooled, remove it from the pan and take it apart from the bones, skin and films, chop finely. Also peel and finely chop the garlic. Strain the broth carefully so that it is clean and clear.

3. Now we lay out the finished meat in containers in which the jelly will solidify. It is desirable that they have lids and close tightly; in such dishes it is very convenient to put them in the refrigerator.

4. Put garlic in each bowl with meat, determine the amount yourself to taste. Pour everything with broth so that it is one third more than meat. Cool and then put in the refrigerator until completely solidified. Serve to the table, removing the remnants of fat from above, preferably with mustard or horseradish.

Cooking at home with gelatin

Many do not like to cook jelly with the addition of gelatin, but I don’t see anything wrong with that, so here’s my recipe for making beef and chicken snacks. My daughter loves this option.

Ingredients:

• Beef shank - 520 gr.;
• Chicken - 430 gr.;
• Bulb - 60 gr.;
• Carrots - 90 gr.;
• Sheet gelatin - 22 gr.;
• Garlic cloves - 25 gr.;
• Water - 2.4 l;
• Laurel leaves - 3 gr.;
• Salt, crushed black pepper - to taste.

Cooking method:

1. Rinse chicken and beef. Place in a saucepan and cover with cool water. Bring the contents to a boil, remove the foam.

2. Peel and wash the onions and carrots, add whole to the meat. Reduce heat, salt and pepper. Cooking 5 minutes.

4. After the time has elapsed, remove the pan from the heat, remove the onions and carrots. Strain the broth using cheesecloth.

5. Put the gelatin in a bowl and cover with cold water. Leave for 8 minutes. After we take out the gelatin from the liquid and send it to the hot broth, stir it until completely dissolved.

6. At this time, we free the meat from bones, skins, fat and tendons. Cut the pulp into small pieces and arrange on deep plates.

7. Peel and chop the garlic, add to the meat. We fill everything with broth. We send the dish to the refrigerator. Serve the frozen jelly to the table, cut into medium pieces.

beef recipe

This cooking method is for those who do not like pork, we are preparing a beef meat appetizer. It turns out no less tasty and do not worry, the broth will be transparent, and the consistency will thicken.

Ingredients:

• 2 kg of beef (leg, tail, ears, meat);
• 1 carrot;
• 2 onions;
• 6 cloves of garlic;
• Bay leaf;
• salt;
• black allspice in the form of peas;
• 4.5 liters of water.

Cooking method:

1. Rinse the meat and put in water, cook after boiling for 15-20 minutes. Then drain the water, rinse the beef again under the tap and pour fresh water over it.
2. When the liquid boils again, remove the foam and fat, salt and reduce the heat, continue cooking.
3. Add peeled onions and carrots. Cook the meat for another 3 hours.
4. In the last 5 minutes of cooking, add pepper and bay leaf.
5. Wait for the meat to cool, then take it apart and chop it with a knife.
6. Divide the beef into bowls, add chopped garlic and pour over warm, strained broth. Refrigerate until completely dry. The dish is ready to eat.

Advice!! To give a golden color to the jelly, onions must be thoroughly washed and boiled in water right in the husk. And before preparing snacks, pre-soak the meat for three hours.

Video on how to make chicken jelly

Now I suggest you watch the plot of cooking chicken meat, it turns out a dietary option !!

How to cook jelly in a slow cooker

Since this cold appetizer takes quite a lot of time, many housewives prefer to buy a ready-made dish. I recommend that you still do everything yourself, and a slow cooker will come to your aid, the cooking time will be significantly reduced.

Ingredients:

• Pork knuckle - 800 gr.;
• Chicken leg - 2 pcs.;
• Onion - 1 pc.;
• Carrot - 1 pc.;
• Bay leaf - 2 pcs.;
• Black pepper (peas) - 6-7 pcs.;
• Allspice (peas) - 3 pcs.;
• Salt - to taste;
• Garlic - to taste;
• Green peas - optional;
• Water - for cooking;
• Greens - to taste.

Cooking method:

1. Pour the knuckle and legs with cold water and leave for 4-5 hours. Then rinse with clean water, put in a multicooker bowl. Add peeled onions and carrots, pepper and bay leaf. Pour water up to the maximum mark on the bowl, salt.

2. Turn on the extinguishing program, and after an hour open the lid and remove the foam. Then cook until the end of the program.

3. Take out the meat and vegetables and strain the broth.

4. Cut garlic into bowls, put green peas and circles of boiled carrots, pour a little broth.

5. Separate the meat from the bones and disassemble into small pieces.

6. Fill with broth and put in the refrigerator.

7. We are waiting for the jelly to harden well.

8. We lower the cup with our snack for 20-30 seconds in hot water. Then turn on a plate and decorate with herbs.

Stew and gelatin dish

Well, this method is even faster than cooking in a slow cooker, but it is important to take a very good quality stew so as not to spoil the taste of the dish.

Ingredients:

• Beef stew - 1 can;
• Gelatin - 10 gr.;
• Garlic - 2 cloves.

Cooking method:

Pour gelatin with 50 ml of cold water and leave for an hour to swell. Then add another 50 ml of boiling water and mix. Divide the stew in half and put in portion molds with meat juice from a jar. Break up large chunks with a fork. Squeeze a clove of garlic into each mold and pour in half the gelatin. We mix everything, then add hot water, and preferably broth, salt to taste and put in the refrigerator. After 1-1.5 hours, the dish is ready.

Delicious jelly from pork knuckle

To be honest, I love cooking this pork knuckle appetizer most of all, it turns out incomparably. For you, a video plot on cooking such food:

Step by step recipe for homemade pork knuckles

And in conclusion, let's make pork leg jelly. This photo recipe is especially for you. In general, the most delicious option is obtained from the legs of a rooster, but the truth is that there is no meat in them at all.

Ingredients:

• Pork legs - 1 kg;
• Meat (chicken, beef, pork) - 700 gr.;
• Onion - 1 pc.;
• Carrots - 1 pc.;
• Bay leaf - 2-3 pieces;
• Garlic - 3-4 cloves;
• Peppercorns - 5-6 pcs.;
• Salt - 2.5 tsp.

Cooking method:

1. Put the legs in a saucepan, but beforehand they must be soaked in water and washed with a hard sponge. Also put spices and bay leaf to the legs. Fill everything with water.

2. When the water boils, remove the foam and cook over low heat for 4 hours, covered with a lid. After 4 hours, put the chicken fillet and leg, peeled onion and peeled carrots to the legs. Salt the broth.

3. Peel one clove of garlic and pass through a press.

4. Remove meat and vegetables and send crushed garlic there, leave for 15 minutes.

5. When the meat has cooled, take it apart into small pieces. Discard the onion and keep the carrots for garnish.

6. Take deep bowls and place pieces of meat on 1/3. Strain the broth first, and then pour to the very top of the plate. Send everything to the refrigerator until completely solidified.

7. If you decorate a snack, then do it when it hardens a little so that the decoration does not sink. Bon appetit!!

Well, I finish writing and wish you all a good appetite.

Europeans do not understand how you can adore jelly, but we know that nothing will warm you better than jelly with horseradish under a glass of vodka if you have just walked in the cold.

Kholodets is a rather simple dish, although it requires some patience. The convenience of jelly is that it will cook for a long, long time on its own. Nevertheless, he still requires, albeit minimal, but supervision, so it is better not to leave the house. The most important point is that the aspic should solidify without the addition of gelatin and agar-agar. He will do it, no problem, but only if you follow a few simple rules, choose the right meat and fill it with the right amount of water. That's actually all.

What meat to take for jelly

In the old days, jelly was cooked from beef legs and head. It was a method of disposing of those parts of a cow/veal carcass that are completely unsuitable for other dishes. Now we have the opportunity to put anything in the jelly. But in order for the broth to solidify without gelatin, you still need to use legs, drumsticks, tails - they impart viscosity and stickiness to the liquid. The veins, cartilage, skin, and skin contribute to the solidification of the broth.

In addition to the legs, you can use almost any meat that is not a pity to cook for a long time. Pork knuckle, chicken, beef edge are good. They make jelly and completely from poultry, but then it is necessary that there must be legs, chicken legs, and also that the chicken is not store-bought young and white (the broth will not freeze with it), but homemade, nondescript, bony. Old roosters are good for chicken aspic.

There shouldn't be too much meat.

If there is a lot of meat, then this will not contribute to the solidification of the broth. You need to keep the proportions. For one part of the legs, about two parts of the rest of the meat.

Soaking is a must

Before cooking jelly, meat, and especially legs and tails, must be soaked. That is, they must first be washed, the legs scraped, if necessary, singe, and then pour cold water and leave for several hours. This procedure will remove blood clots from the meat.

How much water to pour

After soaking, drain the water and pour cold water over the meat again. But it shouldn't be too much. Water should be above the level of the meat by about the width of the palm. And the fact that it is cold is also important. This will make the broth taste better.

Drain the first water

Bring everything to a boil and drain the water. With this procedure, the broth will become transparent. Then rinse the legs and everything else again. Pour cold water again and bring to a boil over medium heat. Remove the foam, turn the fire to a minimum.

The slower the better

No wonder jelly used to be cooked in the oven. At a temperature of about 90 degrees, the meat slowly languished and gave everything to the water, so the jelly turned out to be fragrant, rich, and perfectly solidified. Now we cook jelly on the stove (you can cook jelly in a slow cooker, where it languishes like in an oven), but on the smallest fire. So that he only gurgles quietly. And all the time we remove the foam. Fat can also be removed if you do not like a thin white fatty layer on the surface of the finished jelly. By the way, it can also be removed from a ready-made frozen jelly.

Important! Jellied meat is cooked for at least 6 hours, and better - 8 hours.

What else to put

Onion, peeled from the first layer of husk, a couple of carrots. Of course, peppercorns and bay leaf. All those products that make meat broths tastier. But we do not put them immediately, but towards the end of cooking. Carrots and onions - two hours, and pepper and other spices - about half an hour.

When to salt

Not earlier than an hour before the jelly is ready, because the water is slowly boiling away and there is a danger of oversalting the jelly. Many salt jelly after it is cooked. In this case, you need to put a little more salt, taking into account the fact that the meat will absorb it.

After cooking

When the jellied meat is turned off, you can salt it, add crushed garlic to the broth and let it stand and rest for about 20 minutes. And then start parsing the jellied meat: separate the meat from bones and cartilage.

Analysis of jellied meat and bottling in forms

When the jelly is cooked, the meat is removed from the broth with a slotted spoon. It is removed from the bones, separated from the cartilage, and the skin is selected. All meat is cut into small pieces. It is often recommended to add finely chopped cartilage to the meat, so the jelly will be more dense.

Try to choose peppercorns and bay leaves from the meat.

Arrange the meat in forms and trays, and strain the broth and pour over the meat. You can mix, or you can leave the meat below so that there is a layer of jelly above it.

Decor

Aspic looks great on the festive table, served in portions - for each guest. Meat and broth for such a jelly is poured and laid out in small portion molds, and it’s nice to put decorations on the bottom of the mold: sprigs of greens, carrot mugs, half an egg, etc. When you take out the jelly on a plate, the decorations will be on top.

The jelly looks great, frozen in a bottle, it can be cut into large circles, like a roll. To obtain such a round jelly, you need to pour meat and broth into a plastic bottle with a cut off top and let the dish harden. Then pour over the bottle with hot water and take out the jellied meat.

You can also use molds for cakes and pastries with ribbed walls for jelly - it will turn out beautifully and in an original way.

If you want to decorate the jelly, then you can separately boil carrots and other vegetables, those that were cooked with meat, most likely lost their marketable appearance.

The last step is freezing

First, the jelly is cooled at room temperature. And then he needs a very low positive - about 1-2 degrees. It is impossible to freeze jellied meat, it will lose its tenderness and softness, and it will lose its taste. So to solidify the jelly is sent to the refrigerator, approximately in the middle.

Escort

The classic sauce for serving jelly is grated horseradish. You can buy it in the store, or you can make it yourself if you have horseradish root on hand (grate, add a little sugar, salt and vinegar, quite often this sauce is also diluted with water). Table horseradish can be with the addition of beets, very fragrant horseradish is obtained with sour grated apples, and if you add pureed tomatoes to horseradish, you get Siberian horseradish.

Also, an indispensable companion of jellied meat is mustard. Of course, Russian, strong, not sweetish French.

Pork leg jelly

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

Step 1. Wash and scrape pork legs, singe, remove hooves. Soak for 3-4 hours.
Step 2. Pour the legs with water so that it covers them by 5 cm and put on a strong fire, bring to a boil.
Step 3. Drain and pour new water, bring to a boil again, remove the foam, put on a slow fire. Boil for about 8 hours.
Step 4. An hour and a half before the end of cooking, put peeled carrots and onions in their skins. After another 40 minutes, add pepper and bay leaf.
Step 5. 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.
Step 6. Strain the broth and pour the meat into the molds. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for a few hours until set.

Jellied meat in a multicooker

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

Step 1. Rinse, clean and soak the legs for 2-3 hours.
Step 2. Cut the chicken into pieces (the leg can be cut into three parts).
Step 3. Peel the onion, put meat and onions, spices and salt into the multicooker bowl, pour water to the maximum.
Step 4. Put on the extinguishing mode, the longer the better, it is convenient to leave the multicooker for the night.
Step 5. When the jelly is cooked, take out the meat, remove it from the bones and cut into small pieces.
Step 6. Add garlic cloves crushed with a knife to the broth. They insist while we are engaged in meat. Taste and salt if needed.
Step 7. Put the meat into molds, filling them in half or two thirds. Pour in strained broth. Cool at room temperature and then place in the refrigerator to chill.

Basic rules for making good jelly

In order to prepare a transparent jelly, you must remember
a few simple rules, following which you can easily
create this culinary masterpiece.

Rule 1. The choice of the main ingredient - meat.

You can cook jelly from any meat (chicken, pork,
beef, pork legs, etc.), the most important thing is to choose the right
main product.

Buying such an important component in aspic as meat is best on
market, because there it is guaranteed not to be frozen.
Pork legs, which are the key to solidifying the dish, must be
clean well from the bristles, and, if necessary, burn on fire, then
Rinse. You can add any meat of your choice. Will it
chicken, beef or all the same pork jelly - the hostess decides, but
pork legs (to be more specific, the part that ends
hooves) are necessary, then no gelatin is needed.
If the meat is with a skin, then this will also play a good role in
freezing of jelly. The size of the pieces of meat for jelly does not play large
roles. The brisket and drumstick can be cut into several parts, and large and
leave the central bone intact. To avoid small
bones, pork legs need to be cut in half lengthwise, and then again
in half along the joint.

But, oddly enough, you can not overdo it with meat. Necessary
observe certain proportions, otherwise there is a risk that
the dish still does not freeze: for several pork legs weighing
approximately 700 grams can be taken no more than one and a half kilos
other meat components.

Rule 2. Meat must be soaked before cooking.

This procedure is needed for
in order to remove the remains of clotted blood from the meat. Besides
the skin after soaking will be much softer and more tender.
Taking a pan and placing meat ingredients in it, you need to completely
soak them in cold water, and leave for a few hours (or better for
all night long). In the morning, the meat can be washed again, carefully scraped
pork feet to remove sooty spots. Also peel the skin
other meat components. A small "vegetable" knife is suitable for this
tasks like nothing else. Then you can place the meat in a cauldron and
start cooking.

Rule 3. The first water must be drained!

The belief of some housewives that
that descaling with a slotted spoon will completely solve all problems - not really
Right.
It is better to drain the first water after cooking meat, because with it
all excess fat and other unwanted components will be removed.
Moreover, the appearance of such a jellied meat will be much more attractive, noticeably
its calorie content will decrease, and the smell will become much more pleasant. IN
ideally, you can drain the second water, then the jelly will be clean and transparent,
like a baby's tear.
After draining the broth, it is necessary to rinse the contents of the cauldron under running water,
which will remove the small stubborn remains of coagulated protein. After that
you can put the meat back for the final cooking. Amount of water
should be above the level of the meat by about 2 centimeters. If quantity
there will be more water, then it will not boil away, as it should be. Hence,
the jelly may not freeze. If there is less water, then during the cooking process
it will be necessary to add it from the kettle, which is also not very favorable
will affect the final result.

It should also be taken into account that in order for the jelly to turn out transparent,
it is impossible to allow a seething boil of the contents of the cauldron. Cook jelly
you need on a small fire, about 6 hours, and then the result will surpass
all expectations.

Rule 4. Spices and seasonings also have their turn

After 5 hours have passed since the start of cooking, you can add
whole onion and carrot. If you do this earlier, then all the "charms" from
additions of these ingredients will evaporate with the boiled water.

Salt in aspic also needs to be added after 4-5 hours, because in the process
boiling water, the broth becomes more concentrated, and there is
the likelihood of simply oversalting the dish.

Allspice, parsley and other spices to taste are better to add minutes
thirty before the end of cooking, then a bouquet of aromas will win the hearts of even
the most scrupulous critics.

Rule 5

Pork jelly (pork legs, knuckles) 5-6 hours;
- jelly chicken 3-4 hours;
- jelly beef 7-8 hours.

But the best thing is to cook jelly from assorted meat, then it will turn out
more tasty and rich.

Rule 6. Bones are removed by hand, not by a meat grinder

After the jelly has finished cooking, it is necessary to remove the meat from
pots. It is most convenient to do this with a slotted spoon. The broth must be strained.
through a colander, and preferably through a clean cloth, removing the onion, carrot,
peppercorns and bay leaf.

Slightly cooled meat must be carefully sorted out with your hands, separating it
from bones (you can help yourself with a small knife).
It is better to cut the meat by hand, and not with a meat grinder, as this will
a guarantee that even the smallest bones, which are very easy to
break your teeth, do not fall into the plate of any of the guests.
It is better not to throw away skins and cartilage, because they will give the jelly a fortress.
At the bottom of the plate in which the jelly will solidify, you can put greens
or cut out various figures from carrots - this will be wonderful
decorating such an interesting dish. After that, spreading the meat mass in
prepared container, you can fill it with broth.

Rule 7. The right temperature is the key to success.

The best place to freeze aspic is not a window sill or even a cold balcony.
The most “correct” temperature for jelly is on the middle shelf
refrigerator.
After all, if the jelly is not cold enough, then it will not freeze, and if,
on the contrary, it will freeze, then it will lose all its wonderful taste
quality. This culinary masterpiece will harden within 5-6 hours.

Rule 8. If the jelly is not frozen (jelly with gelatin)

If the jelly has not frozen, you should not worry. The dish can be easily saved,
pouring it back into a clean saucepan and simmering for a few minutes. Further
it is necessary to dilute the gelatin in a separate bowl according to the instructions on
packaging (dosage should be seen there). Pour the gelatin into the jelly and
mix well, pour into bowls. After such a procedure, the student
will freeze for sure, no doubt.

jelly recipe

To prepare a delicious jelly, you will need the following products:
pork knuckle weighing about a kilogram;
0.5 kg of pork;
one bulb;
2-3 bay leaves;
5-6 peas of allspice;
2-4 cloves of garlic;
2.5 liters of water;
salt.

Cold preparation:

1. Prepare the meat: rinse and pour water, soak for a couple of hours.
After that, clean the shank well and cut it into two parts.
2. Pour cold water into a saucepan and place all the meat in it.
3. After boiling, drain the first broth and add 2.5 liters to the meat
cold water.
4. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat as much as possible (so that the broth barely
boiled). Cook jellied meat for 5 hours.
5. Next, put the onion, pepper, salt and bay into the broth
sheet. Let it boil for one more hour.
6. Remove the meat from the pan, and put crushed with a knife blade into the broth
garlic.
7. Divide the meat into small pieces. Strain the broth through a fine sieve
or a clean cloth.
8. Put the meat into the jellied molds and pour in the broth. Let it harden
(better in the refrigerator on the middle shelf).
9. Serve jelly, pre-garnished with herbs, with mustard or
fuck.

Blitz tips for cooking jelly

Based on the foregoing, it is possible to formulate several main
tips to help you cook correctly, and most importantly tasty
jelly.
1. Meat must be fresh.
2. In order for the jelly to freeze better, it is better to take pork knuckle for cooking or
animal legs.
3. To make the jelly taste good, the meat must first
soak in cold water.
4. It is better to drain the first broth.
5. Spices and seasonings should be put shortly before the end of cooking
jelly to keep their flavor.
6. Meat bones must be carefully selected by hand.
7. The jelly should solidify at the right temperature - at medium
refrigerator shelf.
8. If the jelly is not frozen, you can simply add gelatin, first
boiling the jelly.
9. Do not add too much water, as the jelly may not
freeze. Too little water is also not the best option.
10. You need to salt the jelly at the end of cooking, so as not to oversalt the dish.

That's all, the jelly is ready, and there is nothing super complicated. All you need is
carefully choose the meat, and carefully consider its cooking, and then
jelly is doomed to success!

jelly recipe and the jelly recipe is one and the same. But do not confuse jelly and aspic, because gelatin or agar-agar is used in the manufacture of aspic. Although jelly with gelatin is also, of course, possible, for example, they make jelly from chicken with gelatin.

How to cook jelly correctly, how to make jelly tasty, how to make jelly freeze, how ... Quite often, young housewives are afraid of this supposedly complex dish and do not know how to cook jelly. Meanwhile, the recipe for making jellied meat is quite simple. Aspic can be prepared from almost any meat. Cooking jellied chicken, jellied beef, jellied pork, jellied turkey. At the same time, the preparation of jelly largely depends on the meat ingredients used. For jelly, those parts of the carcass are used in which there are enough gelling agents. Such substances are usually found in the skin and connective tissues of animals and birds. Therefore, it happens jellied pork feet, jelly from shank, jelly from pork shank, jelly from chicken feet, jelly from pork head. If you are interested in a beef jelly recipe, then you will have to stock up on beef legs, beef trimmings, even tails. In the pork leg jelly recipe, you can add an ingredient such as pork ears. Do and jellied fish. As a rule, gelatin and heads, fins, tails, spines of sturgeon fish are used, again, because they gel the broth well.

Very often, housewives ask the question: how much to cook jelly? Of course, a lot depends on the type of meat for jellied meat. But on average, for pork jelly or beef jelly to be guaranteed to freeze, at least five hours. Chicken jelly, or as it is called in the north, chicken jelly - can be less.

If the jelly has not frozen, this happens for two reasons: either you poured too much water and the broth turned out to be low-fat; or you undercooked the broth for jelly. This is where gelatin can help you out. Add gelatin dissolved in water to the jelly, and the jelly will definitely harden.

If you are on a diet, choose low-fat dishes and you are interested in their calorie content, jelly is clearly not for you. If you still really want to, we can advise you on the chicken jelly recipe - it is the least fat. How to cook chicken jelly will tell you our recipe Chicken jelly. It is also worth noting that jelly is often served at the table with horseradish or mustard, and the benefits of jelly from this only increase. If you are still not sure and are afraid to cook jelly, a recipe with a photo will help you!

How to cook jelly: the three most common questions.

How to cook pork jelly correctly? Use a large saucepan, at least five liters.

How to cook jelly in a slow cooker or jelly in a pressure cooker? Use the "Extinguishing" mode.

How to cook jelly so that it is sure to freeze? Watch the condition of the broth: if the broth for jelly has become sticky, the jelly will harden.

Fragrant transparent jelly is a frequent guest at many festive feasts and celebrations. For some, the main decoration of the festive table is exotic dishes and tropical fruits. But many prefer traditional, but no less tasty food, which can also include jelly.

It is also often referred to as jelly. However, not every young housewife dares to cook jelly - the recipe is not as simple as it might seem at first glance. The process has its own nuances. In order for the jelly to turn out not only tasty, but also transparent, appetizing and simply beautiful, you must follow some rules for its preparation. Do not neglect these recommendations - and the jelly will definitely become your signature dish, a real decoration of any festive feast.

• The first rule for preparing a transparent and tasty jellied meat is the choice of the basis for the dish. For cooking jelly, you can take almost any meat of your choice - pork, beef, chicken or turkey. However, many experienced housewives recommend opting for beef.
• Since you can cook beef jelly only from some parts of the carcass, you need to take meat on the bone, the part of the lower leg that is closer to the hoof, or beef shank with veins, cartilage or skin. This choice is due to the fact that they contain special gelling agents that contribute to the rapid solidification of the broth without the use of gelatin and do not make it cloudy in appearance. You can use one or more types of meat.
• When buying a meat set for making jelly, be sure to make sure it is fresh. If the beef has a specific “old” smell, small spots on the surface, visible traces of frequent frosts, defrosting, or too dark a color, it is better to refuse to purchase such a product, since it will not work to cook delicious jelly.
• Be sure to ensure that the meat set has approximately the same content of pulp and bones. If there is too much beef pulp, the jelly simply will not freeze. The same goes for too much bone content. Therefore, the most important thing is the measure in everything.

Food preparation

1. So, fresh meat for cooking aspic is chosen. Next, it must be properly prepared.
2. Beef should be soaked - this helps to get rid of traces of blood and provides a beautiful transparent base of the jelly. If the meat is not soaked, the broth will be cloudy and unappetizing. Put the beef in cold water and leave for a couple of hours before boiling the jelly.
3. The recipe of any housewife is the same in that the meat must be completely covered with water, otherwise the remaining blood marks and stiffness of the skin cannot be avoided. After soaking, you can safely proceed to cutting. To do this, it is better to use a special meat knife or a hacksaw with large sharp teeth - it can be used to cut beef bones so that there are no small fragments.
4. If you just chop the beef with a hatchet, then there will definitely be sharp edges on the bones. Next, clean the meat with a knife, freeing it from bone fragments, prepare other ingredients for cooking.

Ingredients needed to make jelly

• Beef or meat set weighing from 2 to 4 kg.
• Pure cold water, better purified.
• Salt to taste (about when to salt the jelly, below).
• 2-3 large onions.
• 2-4 large carrots.
• Garlic cloves - 6-8 pcs.
• Spices and herbs of your choice - bay leaf, black pepper, allspice peas, red pepper, parsley and celery root, dill.

The main stages of cooking jelly

1. Place the cooked meat set in a saucepan and cover with clean cold water. It is better to choose purified or filtered water for cooking this dish. If you use ordinary tap water, then there will be a very high probability of a cloudy shade of the broth. In addition, tap water has specific impurities that can give an unpleasant aftertaste to the finished jelly.
2. Water should be taken in a ratio of 1:2 to meat - this means that for 1 kg of beef you will need 2 liters of purified cold water. Lay the pieces of beef very tightly so that the meat is completely covered with water. We put on fire.
3. Many experienced housewives recommend cooking aspic exclusively on low heat - this way you can get a crystal clear and transparent broth. If you cook on high heat, there is a risk that it will become cloudy.
4. After 20-30 minutes, as soon as the broth boils, it is necessary to carefully collect all the foam on its surface. The foam will rise during the entire cooking process, so it is very important to collect it carefully and regularly at all times. Thanks to this process, the broth will remain transparent and beautiful in appearance. Many well-known chefs recommend not collecting foam, but completely draining the first water in which meat was cooked for jelly. Drain all the water, and thoroughly rinse the beef itself under clean running water - this way the meat will be cleaned of the remnants of foam and bone fragments.

How to achieve a transparent color of the finished dish?

A question that torments not only novice housewives: how to make jelly transparent? Everything is simple here.

1. Put the washed parts of the meat set back into the pan and fill with water, chop again if necessary. After that, the pan can be put on a small fire again. Now, when foam or fat appears on the surface of the broth, you can simply remove them with a slotted spoon.
2. As mentioned above, jelly is cooked over low heat - which is why the entire cooking process of this dish can take from 5 to 10 hours. You should not increase the heat in an attempt to speed up the long cooking process - the broth will become cloudy, and your jelly will turn out to be unattractive and unappetizing. In addition, long-term simmering contributes to excellent solidification of the finished jelly - you do not need to use gelatin or other substances.

Rules for adding spices and herbs

1. After the jelly is boiled under the lid for 4-5 hours, it's time to add spices and herbs. This happens until the moment when it will be necessary to salt the jelly (including beef). These ingredients should not be added before the specified time - by the end of cooking they will lose their taste and characteristic spicy aroma.
2. For jelly, it is recommended to use whole vegetables without chopping them. You can take carrots and other vegetables directly in their skins without peeling them, just rinse them well under running water. If you do not like this method, peel the vegetables, but do not cut them into pieces. Many people put a whole unpeeled onion into the jelly that is being prepared - this trick helps to give the broth a light golden hue.
3. Garlic cloves can be put in any form convenient for you - whole or chopped. At the same time, add various spices to the future jelly to your liking - black pepper, allspice, celery root or parsley, bay leaf give a special piquancy and incomparable taste to the dish. But in no case should you be too zealous with the amount of spices - the finished jelly has an incredibly delicate and refined taste, which can be easily spoiled with hot spices.

When should beef jelly be salted?

The basic rule of a tasty and appetizing dish is proper salting. When to salt aspic?

1. Remember that jelly must be salted 20-30 minutes before the end of its preparation. If you salt the dish earlier, the result will certainly disappoint you. Meat absorbs a lot of salt. And even a small amount of it, sprinkled at the beginning of cooking, can make your dish simply inedible.
2. In addition, the broth must be simmered for at least 5 hours - during this time the water in the pan boils away strongly, so the concentration of salt in the broth becomes excessive. The best option for salting jelly is half an hour before the end of cooking.

Grinding cooked meat properly

1. After the jelly is cooked, turn off the heat and carefully remove the cooked meat from the pan with a slotted spoon. Whole onions and carrots can also be removed - they have already fulfilled their purpose. Let the cooked meat cool slightly.
2. Next, the cooked meat must be carefully chopped. This can be done simply with your hands or use a small knife, with which you can carefully separate the pulp from the bones and cartilage. Many people prefer to use a food processor or a meat grinder to grind meat, but in the case of cooking jellied meat, it is better to avoid such methods, since with such a method of grinding, the finished dish loses its unique exquisite taste.
3. Make sure that there are no small bones, remnants of skins or cartilage in the finished meat. Grind garlic cloves through a press and mix them with the resulting meat. It is better not to cut the garlic with a knife, but to press it through a special press - this way it mixes better with beef, there will be no large sloppy pieces.

Pour cooked meat properly

1. At the bottom of deep plates or trays, place chopped meat and mixed with garlic. If you want to make your culinary creation brighter and more original, you can put pieces of boiled yolk or carrots on the bottom of the plates, as well as any other products of your choice.
2. The meat must be poured with the resulting salty broth (we have already mentioned when to salt the jelly). To do this, it should be carefully filtered through a fine sieve or gauze folded in half. Thus, small pieces of cartilage and bones, excess fat are removed from the broth. As a result, it acquires an even, pure color and a pleasant shade.
3. Heat the strained broth a little in a saucepan over low heat and pour it into the molds with cooked meat. If you are using gelatin when preparing jellied meat, it's time to add this ingredient to the broth as well. To do this, take a glass with already prepared and strained broth, dilute one bag of gelatin in it and add the resulting mixture to the rest of the broth before pouring it into molds.

Aspic freezing

It would seem that for housewives the most controversial issue is the question of when to salt the jelly. But it is not so. There is another stage in the preparation of this dish, which raises a lot of questions - freezing.

1. For complete solidification of jelly, a fairly significant amount of time is required - from 4 to 10 hours. You can leave the molds with a fragrant meat dish for the whole night. In order for the cooked jelly to freeze, it will need a cool temperature, which is below room temperature. You can leave the dish on the balcony or on the windowsill - but these places are completely unsuitable in the winter season. At low temperatures, the delicate jelly left on the balcony will simply freeze and completely lose its unsurpassed delicate taste. The best option for quick and high-quality solidification of jelly is a refrigerator.
2. It is better not to put dishes with beef jelly on the top shelf of the refrigerator - as you know, here is the lowest temperature zone, and your meat delicacy will simply freeze. It is not recommended to place molds with beef jelly on the lower shelves of the refrigerator - here, on the contrary, it will not harden. The best choice would be the middle shelf with optimal temperature conditions.

So, you have learned how to cook and when to salt the jelly. And everything was done according to the recipe. Now your culinary masterpiece is ready, but what to serve it with? The traditional answer to this question is various hot sauces, mustard, horseradish or adjika. You can serve a delicate meat dish with a little soy sauce - it will add a special piquancy to the jelly. A very tasty combination will be jelly served with pickled mushrooms or cucumbers, fresh or canned tomatoes, fresh vegetable salad with herbs to your taste.

The most important nuances

To make beef jelly really tasty and appetizing, follow a few simple rules for its preparation.

• The basic rule of how to make jelly transparent - in any case, do not add water to meat that is already being cooked. If a new portion of water is added to the broth during the cooking process, it will lose its beautiful transparent color and become cloudy. In addition, such a broth almost never freezes without the addition of gelatin. In this case, it is best to immediately pour a little more water into the beef pan than you need - when boiling, the required amount of broth will remain, and its color will not suffer at all.
• Let's repeat when to salt the jelly when cooking. During the preparation of a delicate meat delicacy, you should not do this at the beginning or middle of the process. When cooking, the broth boils away and becomes more saturated, the salt concentration increases significantly. That is why even a small pinch thrown into a pan with jelly at the beginning of cooking can make it salty and inedible.
• Many people do not like the specific fatty taste that ready-made beef or pork jelly can have. A simple way to avoid such an unpleasant phenomenon is to drain the first water in which the meat was cooked. So you will not only remove excess fat from the meat broth, but also make the finished dish less high-calorie and heavy on the stomach.
• Do not try to put 10 kg of various meat products in a pot with broth. Remember that the water in the pan should cover the meat by at least 2-3 cm. This is necessary in order to get the required amount of clean and aromatic broth as a result. If initially there is too much water in the pan, it will not boil away during the cooking process, and the broth will harden poorly. At the same time, if you add too little water, the opposite problem will arise - it will quickly boil away and you will have to add a new portion of water to the pan. In this case, the appearance of an unpleasant cloudy shade in the finished meat dish cannot be avoided.
• 5-10 hours - so much you need to cook aspic. The recipe does not tolerate haste and sloppiness.
• Many experienced housewives recommend not throwing away meat cartilage and skins that you get after you finish cooking beef. Finely chop these foods with a knife, meat grinder or food processor, then gently mix the mixture into the cooked beef. As you know, cartilage and veins contain special gelling substances that contribute to the rapid solidification of the finished jelly without the use of gelatin. At the same time, the taste of a delicate dish does not worsen at all.

And finally

Since cooking delicious jelly is a painstaking task and requires a certain skill, you should not be upset if your first jelly turned out not quite the way you expected. A little culinary practice and patience - and your dish will become the main decoration of any holiday table.

How to cook jelly step by step recipe in a regular saucepan

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