Jellied meat is one of the best traditions of Russian cuisine. This tasty and aromatic snack attracts the attention of hospitable housewives who love to treat their home and visiting guests with something tasty. Recipes for making jellied meat (or rather, subtleties and secrets) exist in many families: how, what and in what order to add to make a tasty dish. The recipe is no exception: how to cook jellied meat with gelatin so that it hardens better. Let's try and use it!
To apply or not
This question torments many housewives. There has been debate for decades about how to cook jellied meat - with or without gelatin. But, you must admit, what if your dish does not harden to the desired jelly consistency? You will end up with an ordinary meat soup instead of a tasty product. Of course, classic jellied meat is supposed to be cooked without gelatin. Everyone knows this. But experienced housewives add it to the dish “just in case,” because it is certainly impossible to predict - jellied meat sets differently almost every time.
Ingredients
To prepare jellied meat with gelatin you will need:
- Beef shank - 3-4 kg;
- Carrots - 3 pcs;
- Onions - 3 pcs;
- Gelatin - 6 packs;
- Bay leaf;
- Salt;
- Black peppercorns.
Preparation
Wash the drumstick thoroughly, cut it and place it in boiling water. When the water with meat boils, reduce the heat and continue cooking. It is necessary to constantly monitor the cooking process. while removing foam from the broth. As soon as the foam begins to appear in small quantities, remove the container from the heat, transfer the drumstick to another pan, and drain the broth.
Cut the carrots and onions into cubes, add to the meat, add water and put on the fire again. Cook for 2 hours until the meat and vegetables are cooked through. In the middle of the process, add salt and spices. Turn off the stove, remove meat and vegetables from the pan, strain the broth to remove spices and small bones.
How to dilute gelatin for jellied meat
It is gelatin that helps the jellied meat to quickly harden and take shape. Preparing it is usually not difficult if you follow the basic rules. Firstly, meat plays a significant role in the hardening of jellied meat - you should choose it with bones, which also contain natural gelatin. As for the supplement itself, before use you must carefully read the instructions, as sometimes they may differ. It is worth noting that there are two types of gelatin - regular and instant. If the jellied meat does not take a long time to harden, you should use instant.
To dissolve the gelatin, use half of the strained broth. It must be cooled first. Pour gelatin into it, stirring thoroughly and heating, but without bringing the broth to a boil. In general, this procedure will take about 15 minutes.
How to add gelatin to jellied meat
After the gelatin has completely dissolved, mix it with the remaining broth. Cut the boiled meat into small pieces. Place it and the vegetables in molds, pour in the pre-prepared broth and put in a cool place. The setting time again depends on the type of gelatin and meat. In order to make sure that the jellied meat has frozen, you can simply move the mold with it - if it is not liquid, but has the consistency of jelly, then it is ready.
Homemade jellied meat, aspic or jelly are traditional dishes of Russian cuisine, which are often prepared for holidays, such as New Year, or served on weekdays. Various types of meat are used for cooking: pork, beef, chicken. Some housewives make jellied fish from fish. A distinctive feature of the dishes is their jelly-like structure with the addition of pieces of meat, vegetables and spices.
Gelatin
Still, how to cook jellied meat: with or without gelatin? Let's start with the fact that this product is quite beneficial for the human body. It increases the volume of connective tissues and promotes their growth. The product is especially good for strengthening joints (recommended primarily for children and athletes, as well as the elderly). By the way, gelatin collagen is also useful for good growth of hair, nails, and bones in the body. Gelatin also contains aspagic acid, which promotes rapid recovery from injuries and illnesses. Moreover, this product is completely natural and made from animal ingredients. So, in fact, there is nothing “military” in the gelatin supplement; you don’t have to worry about your health and use it with confidence!
How to cook jellied meat with gelatin
Boil broth with roots and spices
- Pour 1 liter of cool water into a saucepan. Place the thighs in it. Bring to a boil, skim off foam.
- Place everything except salt and gelatin into the boiling broth. Cover with a lid and cook over low heat for 1.5 hours.
- Salt well. Cook for another 10 minutes. If the broth has noticeably boiled away, add 100 ml of boiling water (2/5 cup) to it.
Strain the broth, prepare the meat filling and decorations
- Remove the thighs. Cool (while it cools, strain the broth). Separate the meat from the bones and cut the resulting chicken fillet into small pieces. Chop the skin too, it will improve the taste of the jellied meat.
- Strain the broth: Separate the broth from the vegetables and spices - strain through a colander covered with a clean white cloth or gauze (if it is new, rinse it in advance). I had cellulose napkins (like paper towels), which are very convenient to strain through. Remove the carrots, you will need them. The rest can be thrown away.
Combine broth with gelatin
- Pour or stir the gelatin into the broth (depending on the directions for use indicated on the package of your specific gelatin). Mix well. Features of using different types of gelatin (regular and instant) are described below in the tips.
Assemble jellied meat with gelatin
- Make carrot decorations for jellied meat: cut into rings or flowers. In addition to carrots, you can put boiled egg slices, canned green peas, black olives or black olives in the gelatin chicken jellied meat. If you garnish with fresh herbs (parsley or dill leaves), keep in mind that such jellied meat will have a shorter shelf life, since the greens will not undergo heat treatment.
- Place the meat in the jellied dish. On top are decorations. Pour in broth. Cover with a lid or cover with cling film. Cool to room temperature and place in the refrigerator for 2 hours (to harden completely).
Bon appetit!
Chicken jellied meat with gelatin (cooked from 2 thighs)
What is required for jellied meat
Jellied meat is made from just 2 thighs
What is put into the broth when cooking jellied meat: onions, garlic, peppers, bay leaves, celery and carrots
Place the thighs in cold water
Cook jellied meat with aromatic roots and spices
Cooking jellied meat
This is meat from 2 thighs, which will go into jellied meat
We filter the broth, the spices and roots remain. Carrots will come in handy
Carrots can be beautifully chopped and used to decorate jellied meat
Broth from 2 thighs
We dilute gelatin according to the instructions on its packaging.
Disassemble the meat into fibers or cut into small pieces
Beautifully arrange the meat and carrots
This economical chicken jellied broth with a small amount of meat is congealed with gelatin. If you add more bones and meat and cook for a long, long time, it will gel on its own.
Jellied meat with gelatin
Chicken jellied meat with gelatin (from 2 thighs)
Great dinner: fried potatoes, jellied meat and sauerkraut!
Cooking process
Before cooking chicken jellied meat with gelatin, you need to prepare the chicken: pluck, gut, rinse, cut into small pieces. Then take a larger pan. We put chicken meat there and fill it with water. Place the dishes on high heat and bring the water to a boil. Switch to medium and low heat. Use a slotted spoon to remove the resulting foam. Add peeled onions and peppercorns to the pan. You need to cook for quite a long time: three or four hours. In the meantime, let's prepare everything else. Gelatin should be soaked in half a glass of warm water and set aside to swell for about two hours. Boil the eggs hard. Separate the garlic with cloves and peel. Some housewives prefer to crush or chop this ingredient finely. Wash the parsley and separate it into branches.
When the chicken is already cooked, remove it from the broth with a slotted spoon and cool. Remove the onion and discard. The broth itself must be strained through a gauze pad. Add dissolved gelatin. If the broth has cooled down, heat it (but without bringing it to a boil) and mix thoroughly. Use a fork to separate the chicken meat from the bones. We chop it together with the skin into small pieces. Place the meat evenly into deep plates or molds. Sprinkle garlic on top. Cut the eggs into shapes (you can use them in the shape of a crown, for example). Decorate the meat on top. Here we also place a sprig of parsley. You should get several plates. Then fill it all with broth and gelatin, as carefully as possible so as not to damage the structure. Let it cool and place it in the refrigerator (not the freezer) to further harden the dish. This usually happens within a few hours. Now you know how to cook jellied meat with chicken gelatin. The frozen dish is usually consumed cold. Horseradish and mustard are traditionally used as seasonings. Some housewives prefer to sprinkle with vinegar or lemon juice, and in addition decorate with lemon slices.
Beef jellied meat with gelatin, quick recipe
If you love beef jellied meat, but its long cooking time is not quite suitable for you, do not give up your favorite dish. A wonderful recipe for jelly with gelatin will help you make jelly in 3 hours.
The combination of beef and pineapple is very successful, so you can prepare jelly with gelatin from the ingredients of the previous recipe. You need to cook the broth without seeds, leaving only meat in the composition.
Gelatin should be used based on the volume of broth. For 1 liter of liquid, take 25 g of gelatin.
Quick beef jellied meat with gelatin
How to cook beef jellied meat with gelatin
- Wash the beef tenderloin under running water, cut into pieces and dry. Place the meat in a saucepan and cover with water. Place the container on the stove, bring the dish to a boil and boil for 5 minutes.
- Then drain the water, transfer the beef to a clean pan and fill it with fresh water. Place the utensil on the fire, after boiling, remove the foam, reduce the heat to minimum.
- Peel the onion and immediately add to the meat. Season the broth with salt, pepper, and throw in the bay leaf.
- Cook the jelly for 2.5 hours. Using a ladle, remove 2 cups of broth and cool. Soak 50 g of gelatin in the broth for 30 minutes.
- Then season the jellied meat with dried seasonings. Cook the dish for another 30 minutes.
- Remove the jellied meat from the heat and separate the beef from the broth. Strain the aromatic broth, pour in gelatin in a thin stream, stir.
- Place the meat in a bowl with high sides and place the pineapples on top.
- Pour the broth over the ingredients and place the jelly in a cool place.
- After hardening, serve the dish to the table. If desired, decorate the jellied meat with herbs.
Beef jellied meat is a delicious delicacy that can be prepared in completely different ways.
How much gelatin to add to jellied chicken, meat, fish: proportions
Chicken aspic
Chicken jellied meat is prepared faster than the same dish made from other types of meat, and it is also more delicate in taste. It is best to use rooster meat as the main ingredient for the dish, especially domestic rooster, then it will definitely harden. However, if it is chicken or broiler, then most likely you will have to add gelatin. The proportions look like this:
- chicken weighing 1.3 - 1.5 kg
- gelatin – 2 tablespoons, this is approximately 10 g
Jellied fish
Rather, it is not jellied meat, but aspic. It is most often prepared from:
- vegetables
- stuffed fish and meat products
Products are cut into thin pieces and used as edible decoration:
- lemon slices
- tomatoes
The broth or broth obtained by cooking fish and/or vegetables intended for pouring is used to prepare jelly. The amount of gelatin needed to add to the broth or decoction depends on the strength of the broth or decoction. The average proportions are as follows: 1-2 g of gelatin per 1 glass.
IMPORTANT: Gelatin must be soaked in cold water in a ratio of 1:5.
Jellied meat
If you cook cold meats with gelatin from meat, then the usual proportion is 25 - 30 g of gelatin per 1 liter of liquid.
In what proportions should gelatin be diluted for jellied meat?
You will need:
- 1 liter of water or broth
- 20–40 grams of gelatin
- gauze or fine sieve
- capacity
- meat for jellied meat
- boiled carrots or boiled eggs (optional)
When preparing jellied meat, you need to dose gelatin based on which jelly you like best. For example, if you prefer your jellied meat to be quite soft, quivering, like jelly, you need to take about 20 grams of gelatin per 1 liter of liquid. If you want the aspic to be solid, use at least 40 grams per liter of liquid. And if you like very hard jellied meat, which you have to cut with a knife, then you need to take about 60 grams of gelatin per liter of water or broth.
The easiest way to prepare a gelling solution for jellied meat is to follow the following scheme. When the meat for jellied meat has already been cooked, measure out the required amount of gelatin (based on the above calculations), pour in 1 glass of cold water and leave to swell for 50–60 minutes. During this time, remove the meat from the broth, cut it into small pieces or split it into fibers with a fork and place it in a bowl for future jellied meat. Strain the broth through cheesecloth or a fine sieve.
For many housewives, preparing surprisingly tasty jellied meat is not difficult.
What is the secret of their signature dish? Gelling substances from bones and cartilage end up in the broth, but cooking jellied meat is a fairly lengthy process. To save time, cooks add soluble gelatin to the broth, and proper preparation of the solution is one of those nuances that you should know about if you are making jellied meat. Methods for dissolving gelatin
The instructions placed on the packaging of gelatin do not always indicate methods for preparing a solution specifically for jellied meat. Therefore, we will consider several possible options.
- On the stove.
Prepare the broth, remove the meat from it. Soak gelatin (2 or 3 tablespoons) in a bowl of cold water, preferably boiled, for 20 minutes. Place the bowl with the gelatin mixture in a saucepan or saucepan where water is already boiling. Stir continuously to prevent the gelatin from burning. The mixture should become homogeneous. Pour the prepared gelatin into the broth and leave to cool in the refrigerator. - In the microwave.
Dissolve the same amount of gelatin as in the first option in boiled water in a microwave-safe container. Leave for 40 minutes, boil in the microwave and pour the resulting gelatin mixture into the hot broth. - For those who are not in a hurry.
Stir gelatin in a glass of cold water and leave for an hour and a half to swell. Pour the mixture into a saucepan or bowl and completely dissolve the gelatin while stirring over low heat. As soon as you remove the liquid from the heat, strain through cheesecloth, then pour into the broth and stir. There is no need to strain again for an hour and a half (this time with broth).
Useful tips
Edible gelatin is sold in the form of powder, leaves, and grains. If you want to prepare jellied meat and your time is valuable, choose powdered gelatin, as it dissolves quickly.
How to check the consistency of gelatin? To prevent the jellied meat from becoming “rubbery,” combine a spoonful of the prepared mixture with the broth and dip your fingers in this solution. If your fingers stick to each other and can only be pulled apart with a little effort, you have obtained gelatin of the desired consistency. If the stickiness test fails, simply add a little more dissolved gelatin to the mixture.
There is a universal recommendation that will help you get the jelly of the required density. If you dissolve 20 g of gelatin in a liter of water, you will get a “quivering” jelly. And if you need jelly of such density that it is easy to cut, take from 40 to 60 g per liter of water.
Important: if you want to cool the gelatin solution, do not leave it in the freezer, otherwise it will crystallize.
If you want to cook jellied meat with vegetables, you need to cut the vegetables smaller. Gelatin slides off coarsely chopped pieces, and you won’t get a beautiful dish.
Jellied meat with gelatin added to it will harden perfectly if the broth for it is cooked from meat on the bone. After all, the bone already contains natural gelatin.
- 1 beef shank (weighing 1.5 kg);
- 2 onions;
- 1 carrot
- 6 bay leaves;
- 8 peppercorns;
- 30 gr. instant gelatin;
- spices to taste.
- Preparation time: 01:00
- Cooking time: 18:00
- Number of servings: 6
- Difficulty: medium
