At all times, an inherent feature of any festive table in Russia was jellied meat.
Cook it truly royal dish, besides, it’s quite tasty and nutritious, you can use a variety of any meat with the addition of its various components and components.
Jellied pork is really a hearty cold appetizer, traditionally occupying an honorable place among other dishes, at any culinary specialist, a true connoisseur of taste or at a simple layman who loves a delicious meal.
General principles for the preparation of pork jellied meat
In order to cook, such a cold appetizer, like aspic, you must know and correctly use the general principles of preparation of this dish:
• In order for the jellied meat to freeze and get a rich consistency for its preparation, it is necessary to use pork legs with pre-processed hooves (you can also add a knuckle and a skin).
• Before cooking jellied meat components it is better to subject to soaking. Since this procedure will make the skin softer and it will be easier to peel it in the future. It is better to leave the meat components flooded with water for the night, but you can do it for three hours.
• The first water is necessary, after boiling the aspic, drain. This action will provide further transparency to the broth and prevent the possible appearance of a greasy taste in the prepared dish.
• Salt and add spices to the jelly should be done no earlier than after 3-4 hours of cooking, in order to avoid its over-salt.
• You need to be able to choose the right temperature for a gradual, but complete solidification of the jelly. The middle shelf of the refrigerator is ideal for this.
Recipes and cooking features, such a cold appetizer, as pork jelly
Recipe 1. Jellied pork (classic)
Ingredients:
• Knuckle or leg (pork) - 1 pc.
• Pig legs - 2 pcs.
• Onion (medium) - 2 pcs.
• Carrot - 1 pc.
• Bay leaf - 5 leaves.
• Pepper (black peas).
• Garlic - for an amateur.
Cooking method:
The knuckle and pork legs must be thoroughly cleaned, washed and chopped into medium sized pieces, filled with water and set aside for a couple of hours (while changing the water several times).
Next, literally every piece of meat needs to be washed, put in a pan and pour water so that it covers the meat components with 3-4 fingers on top.
Put the pan on the stove, choosing a big fire. As soon as the foam has formed again, it is necessary to remove it, or drain the water, rinsing with all the available meat components, pour them again with water on 3-4 fingers and bring the jelly to a boil.
After the broth boils, you need to minimize the heat and add to the pan, pre-peeled carrots, onions and garlic (whole).
In order for the broth to turn golden, you can put onions in it directly in the husk, adding bay leaf and black pepper to your taste.
After a few hours, the broth should be salted, taking about a spoonful of salt. You also need to remember that during the cooking of the jelly, the foam needs to be removed periodically. Jelly should be boiled for about 7-8 hours on low heat, without strong boiling and under a covered lid.
As soon as the film was formed on the surface, and the meat began to separate from the bones, this would mean one thing - the jelly was cooked!
After you can start cutting the jellied meat. Bones with meat must be removed from the pan using a slotted spoon, and strain the broth using a double layer of gauze.
Next, the meat must be separated from the bones directly with your hands, helping yourself with a small knife, and preferably two. When not a single bone is left in the pulp, it must be cut and laid out on plates.
On top of the meat you need to crush the garlic and fill it with broth to set aside. After some time, the jelly can be mixed with a spoon to evenly place meat on it.
Or vice versa, without stirring, put in the refrigerator. Since, choosing this option, you will get jelly on top, and meat on the bottom.
Jellied meat can be decorated on top with carrot figs, sprigs of greens or other vegetables according to taste.
Recipe 2. Jellied pork (supplemented with chicken legs)
Ingredients:
• Head (pork).
• Chicken legs (chicken legs) - 2 pcs.
• Bulbs - 2 pcs.
• Carrot - 3 pcs.
• Garlic - 1 head.
• Bay leaf - 3 pcs.
• Pepper, salt - according to taste.
Cooking method:
To clean the pig head, rinse, cut off the ears and leave the water to fill for half a day (occasionally changing the water). Further, the head is cut across, so as not to damage the skull itself, and again washed, laid in a bucket and filled with water.
A bucket with a pig’s head is put on fire and boiled for 6 hours, alternately removing foam from the broth, to obtain a subsequently transparent consistency. Cooking takes place on low heat (if necessary, water can be added during the process).
After 2 hours, the bulbs (notched), 3-3.5 st. tablespoons of salt. At the end of the cooking process, the onion is removed.
After a couple of hours, chicken legs (chicken), bay leaves, pepper (peas) are added. A mold for jellied meat is taken separately or some other utensils are laid out on the bottom with pre-cooked and sliced carrots, sprinkled with garlic.
We take out the welded head and other meat components from the bucket and disassemble. The brain, the skin and others are removed from the head through, too, fatty components. Chopped meat is laid in a mold on top of garlic, poured with strained broth and put in the refrigerator for the night, for a gradual but complete solidification.
Recipe 3. Jellied pork (with the addition of beef and eggs)
Ingredients:
• Pork legs - 2 pcs.
• A piece of lean pulp 1000 gr.
• Beef - 1000 gr.
• Onion - 2 pcs.
• Carrot -2 pcs.
• Parsley, salt, pepper - according to taste.
• Eggs - 2 pcs.
• Curly parsley.
Cooking method:
All meat components are thoroughly cleaned, washed and placed in a saucepan. From above, at 20 cm, the meat components are poured, with water, and all this is brought to a boil.
After the further broth boils, the foam is removed from it. Vegetables are added - onions, carrots (uncut as a whole), salt, pepper, lavrushka.
The fire under the jellied saucepan decreases and the cooking process begins for 6 hours under a covered lid.
When the meat will easily separate from the bones, it must be removed, finely chopped, while removing all unnecessary components, such as cartilage, skin.
At the bottom, in certain jellied molds or other utensils, put the meat, garnish with chopped round eggs of boiled eggs and leaves of curly parsley on top, pour in strained broth.
Now pork jelly can be put in the refrigerator for freezing.
Recipe 4. Jellied pork (in a slow cooker)
Ingredients:
• Two pork legs (small size).
• Beef on the bone - 1500 gr.
• Water - 1l 200 ml.
• Carrot (large size) - 1 pc.
• Lavrushka - 3 leaves.
• Salt, pepper (peas) - at the discretion.
• Garlic - 1 head.
Cooking method:
The legs are cleaned with a knife, washed and filled with cool water for 6 hours (this is done to eliminate a certain smell).
Then the legs are washed again and placed in a multicooker bowl along with beef and peeled whole carrots.
Pork jellied meat is filled with spices, salted and filled with water. Cooking pork jellied meat in a slow cooker is carried out for 6 hours on the selected program - "stewing".
After the resulting broth is filtered, through a sieve or two-layer cheesecloth. The meat is laid out in a separate bowl and proceed to its analysis, separating from bones and cartilage.
Next, clean meat is laid out on plates, add chopped garlic, chopped carrots and pour in the prepared broth.
Thus prepared pork jelly is put into the refrigerator for further solidification, for 8 hours.
Recipe 5. Jellied pork (with the addition of gelatin)
Ingredients:
• Pork pulp - 500 gr.
• Legs (pork) - 4 pcs.
• Onion - 1 pc.
• Carrot - 1 pc.
• Garlic - 1 head.
• Gelatin - 25 gr.
• Pepper (peas), salt, bay leaf - at the discretion.
Cooking method:
Before cleaning, the pork legs must be poured, for three hours, with water, to facilitate the further cleaning process.
After that, the legs are thoroughly cleaned, filled with water and put on fire. During cooking, the resulting foam is removed from the surface of the broth using a holey spoon or slotted spoon.
After boiling, it is necessary to reduce the heat to a minimum and continue cooking the pork legs for another four hours, periodically removing fat from the surface.
Separately, for gelatin, gelatin is prepared. A glass of broth is collected from the pan and cooled. They then pour gelatin.
Next, you need to move on to preparing vegetables. Onions and carrots are peeled. Onions are chopped and carrots are diced. All this is added to the broth, meat, pepper, lavrushka and salt are added.
All components are boiled for another two hours, without adding water. After meat is removed from the broth with bones, and the culinary specialist can proceed, finally, to disassemble the jellied meat. The cut meat, without bones and cartilage, is put back into the broth, gelatin, garlic are added to the same, and all together brought to a boil.
The hot consistency of pork jelly is spread on plates and cleaned in the refrigerator for further solidification.
Recipe 6. Jellied pork (beef legs and meat rocking)
Ingredients:
• Pork legs - 4 pcs.
• Beef legs - 2 pcs.
• Rocking chair meat (beef).
• Onions - 2 pcs.
• Carrot - 2 pcs.
• Garlic.
• Pepper (black peas), lavrushka, salt.
• Parsley greens.
Cooking method:
The legs must be burned, chopped, cleaned and washed. Then put all of the above components with the addition of a meat rocking chair, peeled vegetables and spices in a decent pot or bucket and pour water.
After boiling, reduce heat, cover the container with a lid and cook all components for 8 hours. In the middle of the cooking process, it is necessary to salt the jelly.
Next, strain the broth, lay out the meat and take it apart from bones and cartilage. Arrange the cut meat in plates and cups, pour garlic, carrots, chopped onions and greens on top of it.
Pour all the components with the broth (you can mix them to distribute the fat evenly) and refrigerate them to solidify evenly.
Pork jelly - small tricks and useful tips
• In order for the pork jellied meat to turn out to be a beautiful amber color, it must be cooked over low heat to prevent the process of strong boiling and boiling and the subsequent appearance of white color in this cold appetizer.
• It is better to take apart meat for jellied meat by hand, without using a meat grinder or a combine, so any cook will not miss a single bone or cartilage.
• Do not immediately remove the appeared layer of fat from the aspic. Since it is precisely this that prevents the appearance of chapping places in this delicious cold snack.
