The name of this original Russian dish comes from the word cold, because they ate it cold and in the cold season - in winter. Otherwise, it is called jelly. They knew how to cook jelly in Russia at the end of the 17th century. The seasonality of this dish was due to the fact that the slaughter of cattle began in the cold season of the goal.
Russian peasants, in whom nothing was lost in the household, used the heads, legs and tails of animals for this. But the aristocrats did not disdain this food. The difference was only in the set of products and methods of preparation. In rich houses, this treat was cooked from the best products, vegetables, seasonings, spices were added, and the broth was necessarily filtered and clarified. They knew how to cook jellied meat and French culinary specialists who modified the jellied recipes and called it galantines, which in French means jelly.
Today, aspic is a common cold appetizer that is loved not only in Russia - it is appreciated by gourmets of the whole world. Jellied meat is usually served at the festive table, seasoned with horseradish, mayonnaise, mustard or vinegar. Jelly is especially good for vodka.
How to cook aspic so that it turns out transparent? Pure and transparent is obtained from lamb or beef legs, and cooked from pork legs comes out a little muddy. Properly cook jellied meat with the addition of various aromatic roots, for example, carrots, parsley, celery and parsnip. Garlic is added at will, spices and seasonings - to taste.
There are many recipes for making jellied meat, so before you cook jellied meat, you need to choose one and prepare the necessary ingredients, for example:
* Pork legs 4 pcs.
* Meat 1.5 kg
* Onion 1 pc.
* 1 carrot
* Parsley root 1 pc.
* Bay leaves, allspice peas, salt to taste
* Garlic 4-5 cloves
Cooking jellied meat is a rather laborious task, maybe that is why it is cooked on great holidays? But the result is worth it, and knowing the little secrets, you can cook this wonderful dish even more delicious and aromatic.
How to cook aspic so that it is strong and dense? To do this, it is not necessary to add gelatin. For the gelling effect, you need to take pork heads or legs, you can beef, the main thing is that they must be fresh, because tasty jelly will not work from stale or thawed meat.
Before cooking, the meat must be thawed and put in cold water for an hour. Then scrape everything with a sharp knife and rinse in running water. Especially tasty jelly is obtained by combining several types of meat, for example, chicken or turkey, but the jelly from game is more aromatic and piquant.
Whatever meat is used, it should not be fat, so it is best to take white meat or tenderloin. Peeled vegetables should be boiled whole with meat. After the water boils, remove the foam and reduce the heat so that the broth boils only slightly.
How to cook aspic so that it is not gray? To give the jelly a golden color, the onions are cooked unpeeled, only the upper leaves are removed. Vegetables for an hour and a half can be laid at the very beginning of cooking, or can be an hour and a half before the end - this affects the taste, but not much.
Of spices, bay leaves, allspice, cloves and dill seeds are usually added to the jellied meat - they are laid with meat, that is, at the very beginning of cooking.
How to cook jellied meat? Usually, the jelly is cooked from 6 to 12 hours - the longer the jelly is cooked, the more aromatic the taste and the stronger the texture. Therefore, how much to cook aspic, you decide. You need to salt for an hour or two until ready.
The finished broth should be filtered through cheesecloth or a fine sieve, and the meat should be disassembled into fibers and put into shallow forms. There, put pieces of boiled eggs, greens, green peas, slices of carrots, chopped or grated garlic, a slice of lemon and pour the broth.
You can serve jellied meat in tins, but if you turn the jellied meat into a dish, then remember that the top will be the bottom, and so try to decorate it more interesting. Now having covered the forms with lids, take the jellied meat to the cold. In order to get the jelly out of the mold and not damage it, the mold is dipped in hot water for a few seconds and turned onto a dish covered with lettuce leaves. Decorate the jellied sprigs of dill and parsley.