How to cook beef jelly at home. Choosing the Right Ingredients

Fragrant transparent aspic- a frequent visitor to many festive feasts and celebrations. For some, the main decoration of the festive table is exotic dishes and tropical fruits. But many prefer the traditional, but no less delicious food, to which jelly can be attributed. 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 student will definitely become yours signature dish, a real decoration of any festive feast.

How to choose the right meat for jelly?

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 to opt for beef. Since you can cook beef jelly only from some, you need to take meat on the bone, the part of the lower leg that is located closer to the hoof, or beef knuckle 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 color- it is better to refuse to purchase such a product, since delicious aspic it won't work out. 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

So, fresh meat for cooking aspic is chosen. Next, it must be properly prepared. Beef should be soaked - this helps to get rid of traces of blood and provides a beautiful transparent base aspic. 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. 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 - you can use it to cut beef bones so that there are no small fragments. If you just chop the beef with a hatchet, then you will definitely remain 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 peas, red pepper, and celery, dill.

The main stages of cooking jelly

Read on to learn how to make delicious jelly. Place the cooked meat set in a saucepan and pour clean cold water. Better to choose for cooking this dish purified or filtered water. If use plain water from the tap, there will be a very high probability of a cloudy shade of the broth. In addition, tap water has specific impurities that can give bad taste ready stud. Water must be taken in a ratio of 1: 2 to meat - this means that for 1 kg of beef you will need 2 liters of peeled cold water. Lay the pieces of beef very tightly so that the meat is completely covered with water. We put on fire.

So, how to cook jelly. 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 famous chefs it is recommended not to collect foam, but to completely drain 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. 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. 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 fire 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. Moreover, long cooking over low heat contributes to the excellent solidification of the finished jelly - you do not need to use gelatin or other substances.

Rules for adding spices and herbs

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. 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. 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 delicious and appetizing dish - proper salting. When to salt aspic? 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. 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. Best Option when to salt the jelly is half an hour before the end of cooking.

Grinding cooked meat properly

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. 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 this method of grinding, the finished dish loses its unique exquisite taste. Make sure that the finished meat does not have small bones, remnants of skins or cartilage. 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 the beef, there will be no large sloppy pieces.

Pour cooked meat properly

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. 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, from the broth are removed small pieces cartilage and bones, excess fat. As a result, it acquires an even, pure color and a pleasant shade. 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.

For complete solidification of jelly, a rather 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.

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 and on lower shelves refrigerator - here, on the contrary, it will not freeze. The best choice will become 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 cooking masterpiece ready, but what to serve it with? The traditional answer to this question is spicy sauces, mustard, horseradish or adjika. Can be served delicate meat dish With a small amount soy sauce- it will give the jelly a special piquancy. Very delicious combination will be jelly served with pickled mushrooms or cucumbers, fresh or canned tomatoes, salad from fresh vegetables with herbs to your taste.

The most important nuances

To make beef jelly really tasty and appetizing, follow a few simple rules 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 into the beef pan. more water than you need - when boiling it will remain required amount broth, and its color will not suffer at all.

Let's repeat when to salt the jelly when cooking. While preparing tender meat delicacy do 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 pot of 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 meat broth, but also make the finished dish heavy on the stomach.
Do not try to put 10 kg of various meat products. Remember that the water in the pan should cover the meat by at least 2-3 cm. This is necessary in order to obtain the required amount of clean and fragrant broth. If initially there is too much water in the pan, it will not boil away during the cooking process, and the broth will harden badly. At the same time, adding too a small amount 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. Grind these products thoroughly with a knife, meat grinder or food processor, then gently fold the resulting mixture into the cooked beef. As you know, cartilage and veins contain special ones 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 delicious jelly: six important rules.

Delicious transparent jelly from pork, beef or chicken, with horseradish or mustard - even those who count every calorie on the plate are unlikely to refuse such a dish.

However, not every housewife will be able to cook a delicious jellied meat. Some are afraid that it will not freeze. Others tried to cook jelly, but instead of tasty, appetizing, transparent, it turns out to be inconspicuous in appearance and inedible.

However, there are a number of rules, knowing and following which, you can easily cook delicious homemade aspic. So let's get started

Rule one. Choose the right meat

One of the main ingredients of jelly is pork legs, and more specifically, their lowest part, the one that ends with hooves. It is these nondescript pork "spare parts" that serve as a guarantee that your jelly will harden properly.

Add the rest of the meat to your liking: it can be chicken, turkey, pork ( great option- knuckle), beef on the bone. It is better that the meat is with veins and with a skin - this will also contribute to a better solidification of the jelly. But pork legs are a MUST anyway!

In this case, certain proportions must be observed. For a pair of pork legs weighing about 700 grams, take no more than one and a half kilograms of other meat parts. Too much meat, oddly enough, can harm your jelly - it simply won't freeze.

Rule Two.Before cooking, be sure to soak the meat

This procedure is necessary in order to remove the remains of coagulated blood from the meat. Moreover, pre-soak meat softens the skin, which can then be easily peeled.

To soak the meat, take a pot in which you will cook your delicious jellied meat. Pour the meat with water so that it is completely hidden by water and leave to soak for at least three hours, and even better overnight.

After soaking the meat, carefully scrape the pork legs, removing the sooty spots. In the same way, clean the skin (if any) on the rest meat parts. It is most convenient to use a small "vegetable" knife for this purpose.

Rule Three. Drain the first water after boiling the jelly

Some housewives neglect this procedure, believing that descaling with a slotted spoon is enough to get clear broth. However, draining the first broth, you will not only ensure the transparency of the jelly, but also reduce the number of calories in the finished dish and get rid of the specific greasy taste.

After draining the first broth, rinse the contents of the pan under running water - this will remove the small remaining coagulated proteins that have stuck to it.

Pour the washed meat again with water. At the same time, pay attention to its quantity - it should be two centimeters above the level of meat. Pour more - the jelly will not have time to boil away during cooking, respectively, it may not freeze. Pour less - you will have to add additional water during the cooking process, which, again, will adversely affect the solidification of the jelly.

By the way, in order for the jelly to be transparent, do not allow the contents of the pan to boil intensively. You need to cook jelly on a quiet fire for six hours, no less, only in this case it will turn out tasty and freeze perfectly without adding gelatin.

Rule four. Add herbs and spices the right way

After your future delicious jelly has been cooked for five hours, add a whole peeled carrot and onion to it. It makes no sense to add vegetables before - all their flavor will disappear during the cooking process. By the way, do not peel the onion from the outer husk, but simply rinse it thoroughly - this will give the finished broth a pleasant golden color.

You also need to salt the jelly after four to five hours of cooking, in no case at the beginning. Otherwise, the jelly can easily be salted, because during the cooking process the broth boils away and becomes concentrated.

Add bay leaf and peppercorns to the jellied meat half an hour before the end of cooking.

Rule five. Cut meat properly

After you finish cooking your delicious aspic, remove the meat from the broth with a slotted spoon. Strain the broth itself through a colander. Throw out the onion, carrot.

Carefully separate the meat from the bones with your hands, helping yourself with a small knife. Cut the meat with a knife (do not use a meat grinder or food processor) - this way you will definitely not miss the small bones. But the garlic is better not to cut, but to pass through the press. In this case, it will be distributed in the meat mass more evenly.

Do not throw away the skins and cartilage - they will give strength to the finished jelly, cut them finely and mix with "good" meat.

After spreading the meat mass in trays, fill it with broth. Stir very gently so as not to stir up the broth.

Rule six. Ensure the right temperature

In order for the jelly to freeze well, it needs the “correct” temperature. In the kitchen, even on a cool windowsill near the window, the jelly will not freeze. It is also impossible to take it out to the balcony / loggia in winter - frozen aspic irrevocably loses its delicate texture, as they say, “stops off” (an exception is a glazed insulated loggia).

In view of the above the best place for solidification of jelly - the middle shelf of the refrigerator. Trays with aspic can be stacked on top of each other to save space, of course, after cooling them at room temperature and covering each tray cutting board. If you did everything right, the jelly will harden in four to five hours.

By the way, if you cover the jellied meat with a lid, wait until it starts to “seize”, otherwise the lid will stick to frozen aspic and remove it without violating the integrity ready meal, will be impossible.

And further. Do not immediately remove everything from the surface of the finished jelly melted lard- it will protect the jelly from "weathering".

In principle, these are all the basic rules, following which you will be able to cook delicious jelly. As you can see, there are few of them and they are all quite simple. Good luck with this delicious dish!

Aspic (or jelly) - boiled meat under a frozen broth - has been for many years traditional decoration festive table among the Eastern European peoples: in Moldova, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania and Russia. There are analogues of this dish in other countries (China, Germany), and gelatin-based aspic is prepared in almost all cuisines of the world. In order for the jelly to freeze without the use of artificial gelling agents, it must be boiled with the addition of offal - the head, legs, ears, tails. Beef jelly has a rich meat taste, and the collagen and mucopolysaccharides it contains are useful in diseases of the musculoskeletal system.

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Classic cooking recipe

Ingredients:

set of beef shank and shank - 3 kg;
onion- 2 pcs.;
carrots - 2 pcs.;
bay leaf - 2 pcs.;
garlic - 5-6 cloves;
salt - 1 tbsp. l.;
other seasonings and spices - to taste;
a piece of gauze for straining the broth.

Cooking:

1. Rinse and clean the beef legs with a knife. It is good to inspect them and remove bone fragments after chopping meat. The film must be left. If the legs are too big to fit in the pan, chop them into pieces or cut them with a hacksaw.
2. Put the meat in a deep pot or bucket, cover with water and soak for 2 hours so that the blood comes out and the broth is clear. This measure will also reduce the amount of foam that forms when the meat is cooked. Then rinse again.
3. Pour water into a bowl with beef, boil it. The ratio of water and meat in the pan should be 1:1 by volume. Cook for 5 hours under the lid, periodically removing the foam with a slotted spoon. You need to cook on low heat, because with strong boiling a lot of water evaporates, but you can’t add it, otherwise the jelly will not harden.
4. Wash and peel onions and carrots. You do not need to cut them (only large vegetables into 2-3 parts). You can not remove the onion peel, then the jelly will turn yellowish.
5. After 3 hours from the start of cooking, add vegetables, salt, spices, mix. The broth should be slightly salty when hot, as it will taste less salty when it hardens.
6. Peel the garlic cloves, finely chop with a knife. Half an hour before readiness, remove vegetables, put bay leaf and garlic. The bones with meat should be well boiled, so that the meat is easily separated.
7. Put the beef in a bowl, cool and remove the bones. Divide the pulp into pieces, carefully sorting through, large pieces cut and place in a mold for jelly.
8. Fold the gauze in several layers, lay it in a colander. Strain the broth after boiling. Pour over meat and refrigerate overnight. The amount of broth can be different - those who love "trembling" jelly need to pour more. After hardening, serve on the table along with horseradish, bread and mustard.

In order to properly cook jelly, you need to choose those parts beef carcass, in which there are bones, veins, joints and cartilage: shins (the lower part of the back beef leg adjacent to the knee joint), shank (the same - only at the front leg), motor skis - part of the leg above the knee joint. The knuckle, part of the drumstick, also has other names: lytka or broth. These parts contain gelling agents. On pure meat classic jelly without the addition of gelatin will not work.

For those who love spicy taste fresh garlic, you should add it to the dish when cutting already finished meat on fibers. As additional seasonings, parsley or celery root can be put in the broth. Also available for sale ready-made kits spices for refrigeration.

Cooking jelly in the traditional way at home takes a lot of time, but the result is worth it: the jelly is tender, tasty and healthy. Below are the best step by step recipes this dish with various ingredients.

From broth and pork leg

Ingredients:

pork leg - 1 pc.;
beef broth - 1 pc.;
beef meat - 0.5 kg;
carrots - 1 pc.;
onion - 2 pcs.;
bay leaf - 2 pcs.;
allspice peas - 5 pcs.;
salt - 1 tbsp. l.;
garlic - 3-4 cloves.

Cooking:

1. Cut the broth into 2-3 parts.
2. Soak beef and pork legs overnight in water.
3. Rinse them in the morning, put them in large saucepan, pour the water. Bring to a boil with the lid closed.
4. Wash and peel onions and carrots. Cut large carrots into 2 parts.
5. Remove foam. Reduce fire to minimum. Boil for 30-40 minutes, periodically removing the foam, then add salt, put pepper and bay leaf, vegetables.
6. Boil the legs for 5 hours with the lid closed.
7. Remove meat and vegetables. Put a colander or metal sieve on another pan, strain the broth through it from a large pan. Discard the spices left on the bottom.
8. Remove the meat from the bones, cut into pieces, sort with your hands, check for the absence of small bones.
9. Peel the garlic, chop with a knife, mix with meat.
10. Put the meat with garlic in a mold so that they take up 1/3-1/2 of the dish in height.
11. Pour the strained broth into containers. If it turned out to be greasy, then first remove the fat with a spoon.
12. Put in the refrigerator, closing the forms with lids. After 2-3 hours, the dish is ready to eat.

This recipe uses beef broth - the lower part of the hind leg, which has a lot of meat on it. pork leg helps the jelly to "grab" better. The total weight of the legs is 2.5-3 kg, and you need to choose a seven-liter pot for cooking. In order for the beef jelly to turn out without fat, it must be constantly removed from the surface of the broth during cooking. Then it will be crystal clear and beautiful, and cold appetizer can be applied for festive table.

Shank aspic with gelatin

Ingredients:

beef shank - 1.5 kg;
bay leaf - 6 pcs.;
allspice peas - 8 pcs.;
onions - 2 pcs.;
gelatin - 1 sachet (30 g);
spices - to taste.

Cooking:

1. Divide the shank in half, put the pieces in a saucepan, pour water. Boil over low heat. Remove any foam from the surface of the broth with a slotted spoon.
2. Wash the onion, free from the husk, put together with pepper and bay leaf to the meat.
3. Cook for 6-8 hours. At the end of cooking, the meat should be easily separated from the bone.
4. Remove the beef, divide into small slices. Strain the broth, as in the classic recipe.
5. Dilute gelatin as indicated in the instructions. Pour into broth, stir.
6. Arrange the meat in molds, pour in the broth and cool in the refrigerator. After 2-3 hours, the beef aspic is ready.

Shank with ribs

Ingredients:

beef shank on the bone - 1 pc.;
onions - 1 pc.;
carrots - 1 pc.;
beef ribs - 1 kg;
garlic - 3-4 cloves;
gelatin - 2 tbsp. l.;
spices and salt - to taste.

Cooking:

1. Rinse the meat, put it in a deep saucepan, pour water into it. It will take about 3 liters.
2. Boil, remove the foam with a slotted spoon. Reduce heat, add salt and spices. Boil the meat for 4 hours. The broth should not boil actively, but only languish.
3. Wash and peel the onion and carrot. Put together with bay leaf in water 1 hour after boiling.
4. When the meat is well boiled, take it out, cool it.
5. Dilute gelatin in ½ tbsp. boiled warm water, leave it for 20 minutes to swell.
6. Pour the gelatin solution into the broth, keep it on low heat for a few more minutes and turn off the stove. Gelatin consumption is 2 tbsp. l. for 3 liters of broth.
7. Peel the garlic cloves, finely chop with a knife.
8. Cut the meat into pieces, arrange in molds.
9. Pour warm broth, add garlic and cool at room temperature. Then put in the refrigerator.

Shank and beef ribs good for refrigeration. The meat from the ribs is soft and fatty. Thanks to slow languishing on fire, the jelly turns out to be transparent and very tasty. Gelatin contributes to a more rapid solidification of the broth, and in ready-made jellied beef is easily cut with a knife without crumbling.

in Ukrainian

Ingredients:

beef brisket - 1.5 kg;
pork legs - 2 pcs.;
carrots - 1 pc.;
bay leaf - 2-3 pieces;
celery root - 1 pc.;
garlic - 3 cloves;
onions - 1 pc.;
salt, peppercorns, bay leaf, herbs - to taste.

Cooking:

1. Prepare the meat, as in the classic recipe, place in a large pot of water.
2. Boil over medium heat, then reduce the gas, simmer the jelly, periodically removing the foam from the surface of the broth.
3. Prepare vegetables: wash and peel onions and carrots.
4. After 4-5 hours, put vegetables, salt, spices and bay leaves to the meat, cook for another 1 hour, turn off the stove. Put the meat, divide it into fibers, sort it out.
5. Peel and chop the garlic, add it to the broth, let stand for 20 minutes.
6. Strain ready broth through cheesecloth, cool.
7. Wash the greens, finely chop with a knife.
8. Arrange the meat in deep plates or forms, sprinkle with herbs and pour over the broth. Put in refrigerator. After 3-4 hours, beef jelly is ready.

Kholodets in Ukrainian is prepared in almost the same way as the classic one. Celery gives the dish a specific delicate fragrance.

Festive jelly from three types of meat

Ingredients:

beef shank - 1 pc.;
pork knuckle - 1 pc.;
pork leg - 1 pc.;
chicken legs - 2 pcs.;
carrots - 2 pcs.;
celery root - 1 pc.;
onions - 3-4 pcs.;
bay leaf - 3-4 pieces;
allspice peas - 20 pcs.;
egg - 2 pcs.;
black ground pepper, salt - to taste.

Cooking:

1. Clean the legs with a knife, if there are hairs, then set them on fire. Rinse, soak for 3 hours in water to eliminate odor and blood.
2. Place the meat in a saucepan, pour water so that it completely covers the legs.
3. Boil, remove foam. Reduce fire to minimum. Boil 5 min. Remove the meat with a slotted spoon and place in a bowl. Replace the water in the pot with fresh water and rinse the meat.
4. Boil with open lid, remove the foam. Reduce the heat to a minimum, close and simmer for 5-6 hours.
5. Peel and wash carrots, onions and celery root. 1.5 hours before turning off the stove, put them in a saucepan. Pour in the peas allspice, salt.
6. Boil hard-boiled eggs.
7. Put ground pepper and bay leaf in 10 minutes. until ready.
8. Take out the vegetables. Put the carrots aside, you will need it to decorate the dish.
9. Line a colander with gauze folded in 4-5 layers and strain the broth.
10. Divide the meat into fibers.
11. Cut the carrots into stars.
12. Peel the eggs, rinse and cut into slices. Put the eggs and carrots on the bottom of the form for jellied meat, put the meat, pour warm broth. If you want the meat to be evenly distributed in ready jelly, then it must be cut into smaller pieces (or scrolled in a meat grinder) and mixed in advance with the broth before pouring.
13. Cool the jelly in the form first in the kitchen, and then put it in the refrigerator overnight until it hardens.

The more different meat used in the preparation of jelly, the more saturated its taste is. Chicken meat makes the jelly softer and more tender.

Spicy

Ingredients:

beef knuckle - 1 kg;
carrots - 3 pcs.;
onions - 1 pc.;
bay leaf - 2 pcs.;
dried thyme - 15 g;
garlic - 3 cloves;
olive oil - 1 tbsp. l.;
9% table vinegar- 1 tsp;
allspice peas - 5 pcs.;
cloves, mustard, salt - to taste.

Cooking:

1. Prepare the legs, as in the classic step-by-step recipe.
2. Boil the beef for 5 hours over low heat, removing the foam. An hour before readiness, salt, put peeled carrots, bay leaves and onions, pepper, thyme.
3. Strain the finished beef broth, disassemble the meat into pieces with your hands, put in a bowl.
4. Peel the garlic cloves, finely chop with a knife or squeeze through a press.
5. Mix meat with garlic, mustard, oil and vinegar.
6. First pour a little broth into the jelly molds, then put the meat and then the broth again. Chill in refrigerator for 6 hours.

Gentle

Ingredients:

veal on the bone - 0.5 kg;
beef pulp - 0.5 kg;
beef shank - 2 pcs.;
veal shank - 0.5 kg;
carrots - 1 pc.;
onions - 2 pcs.;
celery stalk - 1 pc.;
garlic - 3 cloves;
thyme, bay leaf, salt, pepper - to taste.

Cooking:

1. Wash the meat, soak the shank for 3 hours.
2. Place veal and beef in a saucepan, add water and boil. Then change the water to fresh, rinse the meat.
3. Simmer for 5 hours.
4. Peel and wash carrots, onions, celery. Cut the last one into pieces. Put the vegetables to the meat, add thyme, salt, pepper, bay leaf and cook for another 1 hour.
5. Peel the garlic, chop it with a knife, put it in the broth and let it stand for a few minutes (turn off the stove). Strain the broth.
6. Grind the meat of veal and beef with a knife or with a meat grinder, put into molds and pour over the broth. After cooling, put in the refrigerator.

From the shank and hooves

Ingredients:

cow hooves - 1 pc.;
beef knuckle - 1 pc.;
carrots - 1 pc.;
onions - 2 pcs.;
parsley root - 1 pc.;
bay leaf - 2 pcs.;
garlic - 3 cloves;
salt, spices - to taste.

Cooking:

1. Cut the shank into pieces, rinse in water.
2. Singe the hoof over the burner, clean it with a knife, cut it in half.
3. Put the beef legs in a saucepan, boil, remove the foam and simmer over low heat for 4 hours with the lid open. Periodically remove foam and excess fat. The finished broth should have fat in the form of small scattered drops. By the end of cooking, the liquid will be reduced by 2 times.
4. Peel and rinse bulbs, parsley root and carrots.
5. Put vegetables in a saucepan, add spices and bay leaf, salt. Boil for 1 hour, then remove the onions, carrots and parsley, discard.
6. Remove the meat from the pan, divide it into pieces, cut across the fibers.
7. Peel the garlic, chop and mix with meat.
8. Put the beef in a mold, pour in the broth. Leave for half an hour at room conditions, then put in the refrigerator until the final solidification.

From ribs, shank and neck

Ingredients:

beef shank - 1.5 kg;
beef ribs - 1 kg;
beef neck (pulp) - 1 kg;
onions - 3-4 pcs.;
carrots - 2 pcs.;
celery root - 1 pc.;
allspice peas - 10 pcs.;
bay leaf - 3 pcs.;
salt, black ground pepper - to taste.

Cooking:

1. Wash the beef in water and soak for 3 hours.
2. Put the meat in a saucepan, pour water so that it completely covers it.
3. Bring to a boil, remove the foam with a slotted spoon. Cook for 5 minutes, then change the water to fresh (1.5 liters of water per 1 kg of meat).
4. Boil again and simmer over low heat for 5 hours, periodically removing the foam.
5. Peel carrots, celery root and onions. Just wash one onion without removing the peel so that it gives a golden color to the jelly.
6. Check the readiness of the meat (it should be easily separated from the bone), if not ready, cook more.
7. Put vegetables, salt, continue cooking for 1 hour.
8. For 15 min. before turning off the stove, add pepper, put a bay leaf.
9. Lay out the meat, cool, divide into small pieces.
10. Strain the broth from small bones, pieces of vegetables and spices.
11. Arrange the meat in jellied containers, pour in the broth, cool and put in the refrigerator.

No gelatin from bones

Ingredients:

beef mosol - 1 kg;
chicken - 2 kg;
beef shank (buldy) - 1 pc.;
onions - 1 pc.;
carrots - 1 pc.;
salt - 1.5 tbsp. l.;
garlic - 5 cloves.

Cooking:

1. Rinse beef and chicken, put in a 9-liter saucepan, pour water.
2. Boil over medium heat, remove the foam, reduce the gas and simmer for 6 hours under a closed lid.
3. Peel onions and carrots, put in meat, salt and cook for another 1 hour.
4. Remove the finished meat with a slotted spoon, cool, divide into pieces. Throw out the vegetables.
5. Peel the garlic cloves, rinse and squeeze through a press. Put in hot broth, let it brew.
6. Strain the broth through cheesecloth, folded in 4-5 layers, or through a metal strainer.
7. Arrange the meat in a bowl for jelly, pour in the broth, cool, put in the refrigerator overnight.

from beef head

Ingredients:

beef head - 1.5-2 kg;
salt - 1 tbsp. l.;
bay leaf - 2 pcs.;
garlic - 1 head;
allspice peas - 8 pcs.

Cooking:

1. Rinse the beef head without a tongue, chop it into pieces, put it in a saucepan.
2. Pour in water so that it is 3 fingers above the level of the meat.
3. Boil, remove the foam. Boil 6-8 hours.
4. Salt, add pepper, bay leaf. Keep on fire for half an hour.
5. Take out the pieces of meat, let them cool.
6. Peel the garlic, push it through a press, put it in the broth.
7. Separate the cooled meat from the bones, chop, put on the bottom of the mold.
8. Pour in the broth, let it cool, put in the refrigerator.

The beef head contains many gelling substances, and traditional way cooking involves the use of the head, brains and legs of a cow. Such a jelly quickly hardens and holds its shape well.

From beef tails

Ingredients:

beef tail - 2 kg;
onions - 1 pc.;
carrots - 1 pc.;
celery stalk - 2 pcs.;
carnation - 10 pcs.;
allspice peas - 10 pcs.;
vegetable oil- 50 ml;
bay leaf - 2 pcs.;
egg - 2 pcs.;
salt, table 9% vinegar, garlic - to taste.

Cooking:

1. Chop beef tails into 15 cm pieces, peel, wash, soak in water for 3 hours (you can overnight).
2. Rinse again, dry with paper towels.
3. Pour vegetable oil into a frying pan, heat and fry the tails until a brown crust appears.
4. Put them in a saucepan, pour water to a level above the meat by 7 fingers.
5. Boil over medium heat, remove the foam with a slotted spoon.
6. Peel and wash onions and carrots. Wash celery.
7. Add vegetables to the meat, add cloves, pepper, bay leaf.
8. Boil again, then reduce the gas to a minimum and cook with the lid ajar for 5 hours.
9. Put the finished tails on a dish, let them cool slightly, separate the meat and cut it with a knife.
10. Remove vegetables from the pan, return the bones and boil with the lid open until the volume of liquid is halved. Then strain the broth.
11. Boil hard-boiled eggs, peel, cut into circles.
12. Grind the garlic with a press, add to the broth.
13. First put the beef in the jellied form, then the eggs, pour the broth.

Cow (ox) tail jelly is yellowish-brown in color, very rich and satisfying.

In a slow cooker

Ingredients:

pork knuckle - 1 pc.;
beef on the bone - 1 kg;
garlic - 3 cloves;
bay leaf - 3 pcs.;
salt - to taste.

Cooking:

1. Prepare pork legs as in the second step-by-step recipe.
2. Wash the beef.
3. Wash and peel carrots.
4. Fold the prepared ingredients into the multicooker bowl, pour water so that it completely covers the meat.
5. Add carrots, salt, pepper, bay leaf.
6. Cook in the "Jellied" mode.
7. Peel the garlic, rinse, chop with a knife.
8. After the meat is cooked, remove it from the broth, cool, separate from the bones, chop and arrange into shapes.
9. Pour in the broth, sprinkle with garlic on top and put in the cold to set.

A slow cooker is convenient for cooking beef jelly in that it does not require direct participation in cooking and helps save time. Water practically does not evaporate from it, so the amount of product at the outlet is known in advance.

In a pressure cooker

Ingredients:

beef meat set (shank, tail, 1/3 shank) - 3 kg;
carrots - 2 pcs.;
onions - 2 pcs.;
garlic - 7 cloves;
bay leaf - 2 pcs.;
allspice peas - 4-5 pcs.;
salt - to taste.

Cooking:

1. Rinse the meat, clean it, soak it in water for 3 hours. After that, wash it again.
2. Peel carrots and onions.
3. Put the beef, vegetables and spices in a pressure cooker, pour water (about 3 liters). Put to boil on fire.
4. Boil, remove foam, close pressure cooker lid.
5. Reduce heat to minimum after steam begins to come out of the valve.
6. Cook until cooked according to the instructions (about 2.5 hours). Release pressure.
7. Lay out the meat with a slotted spoon, let it cool. Chop into pieces.
8. Strain the broth through cheesecloth.
9. Arrange the meat in molds and pour over the broth. Cool down to room temperature then refrigerate.

Pressure cooker - indispensable assistant in the preparation of cold. It allows you to reduce the cooking time by 2-3 times.

There are the following tricks when preparing beef jelly:

If one of the family members does not like carrots or onions, then they can not be put in the broth. Bulbs are used to make the jelly more transparent, and carrots to give a golden hue.
The ratio of water and meat during cooking should be 1.5 liters per 1 kg.
To preserve the specific aroma of garlic, it is best to put it directly into the containers before pouring the broth.
To give a special flavor to jelly for 5-10 minutes. before the end of cooking, you can put dill umbrellas in the broth.
To separate the jellied meat from the mold after it has solidified, you need to draw a sharp knife along the edge of the dish and lower the mold into boiling water for half a minute. A dish is placed on top and the jellied meat is turned over.

To make the jelly perfectly transparent, the following rules must be observed:

Thoroughly rinse and soak the meat before cooking so that all the blood comes out.
Remove foam after boiling.
Place meat in cold water before cooking.
Cook over very low heat in a large saucepan. Do not overstuff the dishes with meat.
Salt an hour before turning off the stove.
Do not add water during the cooking process.
Avoid using very fatty parts of the carcass, as the broth becomes cloudy.
Skim fat often when cooking.
On the finished broth, after it cools down a bit, put 5 paper napkins. You don't need to expand them. Fat will be absorbed into the wipes. Then remove them.
You can also use paper towels (you will need about 3 of them, put them on the broth and clean them sequentially, one after the other).

Usually, excess fat is removed from the surface of the jelly after solidification with a spoon. In this case, its surface is damaged, and it loses its appearance. You can use other methods:

Skim fat often when cooking.
On the finished broth, after it cools down a bit, put 5 paper napkins. You don't need to expand them. Fat will be absorbed into the wipes. Then remove them.
You can also use paper towels (they will need about 3 pieces, put on the broth and remove

The skimmed fat can be used for frying vegetables.

As gelling ingredients, parts such as:

chicken feet (after cutting off the claws);
turkey or chicken wings;
pork or beef ears and lips.

What to do if the jelly does not freeze?

The jelly may not freeze in two cases: if meat was used for its preparation, in which there are few natural gelling substances, or if it was cooked a little. Instant gelatin will help to correct this situation.

The technology of its application is as follows:

1. Dissolve a packet of gelatin (30-45 g) in 1 tbsp. boiled water.
2. Leave at room temperature to swell in water.
3. Pour into hot broth, stirring constantly. After that, you can pour it into molds.

How to lighten cloudy jelly?

If the jelly turned out to be cloudy, you can apply the following method:

1. Remove meat and vegetables from the boiling broth.
2. Separate the protein of a raw chicken egg.
3. Beat it with a whisk.
4. Slowly pour the protein into the broth, stirring vigorously.
5. Turn off the fire, let the broth stand to settle.
6. Strain the broth, put it back to boil, put the meat and vegetables in the pan.

V egg white contains albumin, which is a good sorbent.

Meat selection

When choosing and cutting meat for jelly, the following tips will be useful:

The hind tibia (shank) contains more tendons, connective tissues, and marrow in the bone. Therefore, for jelly, it is preferable to use it, rather than the front knuckle.
When buying meat sets, you need to choose those in which the ratio of meat to bones is 1: 1.
The drumstick gives the broth a richer yellow and contains more fat.
If you separate the meat from the bulldozer, then it can be used to cook meatballs and other ground beef dishes.
Before cooking, it is necessary to scrape off the scorched places from the legs, and it is advisable to cut off the rough skin in the area of \u200b\u200bthe hooves and on the bird's paws.
In fresh beef, the color of the meat should be light, not rich red.
When choosing meat, you need to check whether it is spoiled by small bone fragments.
It is better to buy meat fresh rather than frozen, as this will help control its quality.
The most delicious jelly is obtained from several varieties of meat, so it is recommended not to be limited to one beef.

Beef leg cutting

If you need to cut a whole beef leg at home, then proceed as follows:

First, a balyk (tenderloin) is cut with a knife. After cleaning from fat and veins, this meat can be used as first-class meat, for cooking goulash or soups.
Next, the leg is cut into pieces: the outer and inner sacrum, along the knee line, “cakes” (a cone-shaped tenderloin with a bone in the middle), the tail, the lower leg (you can immediately chop it with an ax into small pieces).
Plast meat with layers of fat is cut off from the back, and then cut into smaller pieces.
Caviar is cut off from the lower part of the leg, then the shin is divided into the thigh and shank (or the shank of the front leg).

Since this is hard work that requires great physical effort, it is better to ask for a butchered leg immediately upon purchase in the market or in the store. Otherwise beef legs they just won't fit in the bowl. Sawing meat on professional equipment also allows you to reduce the number of small bones in beef cuts.

Ways to decorate aspic on the festive table

To make beautiful festive aspic, you need to think about its "decoration" before pouring the broth into the mold.

Bookmark "patterns" before pouring the broth into the mold

You can decorate in the following ways:

laying figuredly cut vegetables in the form of stars, daisies or other figures at the bottom of the form;
using for filling special shapes, for example, in the form of a Christmas tree for the New Year;
laying out patterns of greens and vegetables.

The following products are used as decoration elements:

canned or fresh green peas;
olives;
sprigs of dill, parsley, celery;
boiled eggs (white and yolk);
capers;
boiled beans;
bell pepper;
canned corn;
cranberries and others.

Combining these products of various colors, you can lay out whole compositions: swans in the reeds, a chamomile field, as well as symbols of the upcoming New Year. It all depends on the imagination of the hostess.

You can also use another original way: Rinse eggshell, put boiled meat, chopped carrots, onions, peas into it and pour over the broth. After the jelly has hardened in the refrigerator, carefully remove the shell.

The benefits and harms of jelly

The refrigeration contains a large number of substances such as collagen, phosphorus, selenium, iron, calcium, sulfur, vitamin B, which have a beneficial effect on the human body:

treatment of diseases and increased joint mobility;
improvement of hematopoietic processes;
rapid recovery after bone fractures;
increase skin elasticity and slow down the aging process;
strengthening immunity;
improvement of the condition of the optic nerve;
reduction in fatigue.

However, the dish should be consumed in moderation, as fat contributes to an increase in the level of "bad" cholesterol in the blood.

It is hard to imagine a solemn feast without jelly, because many people love this dish. It is not only tasty, but also very useful for human body. Modern women they are afraid that it takes a very long time to cook jelly, and they don’t want to spend their time preparing it, but today I will tell you how to cook jelly from beef, and having tried to cook it once simple recipe, you will not be afraid of a long cooking process.

Beef jelly recipe with step by step photo

Kitchenware: large saucepan, smaller saucepan or bowl, knife, cutting board, colander, cloth, trays or serving dishes.

Ingredients

Choosing the Right Ingredients

For cooking beef jelly at home, according to our recipe, you will need to choose high-quality beef. I hope the following tips will help you.

Beef includes the meat of bulls, cows and oxen. The quality of meat and its taste parameters depend on the breed, feed and age of the animal. It is advisable to choose beef no older than two years, and then it will not be inferior in tenderness to veal meat.

The freshness of meat is determined by the following parameters:

Color. The beef should be a juicy red color, and the fat should be whitish-cream. The meat should be shiny and moist.
Smell. The beef should smell good. If you hear "stale" notes in the smell, it is better to pass by.
Texture. Quality beef should have a tender and marbled texture. The meat should be elastic, and when pressed with a finger, the resulting hole should quickly level out.

To cook beef jelly, certain parts of the beef carcass are chosen. For the preparation of beef jelly according to the recipe, the following parts are suitable:

Shank. Piece of meat with marrow bone and tendons. Contains a lot of gelatin and is ideal for jelly. The meat, removed from the bone, after cooking is very tasty and aromatic.
Rulka. This is a piece of meat from the front leg of the animal. It has a marrow, tendons and muscles with a layer of connective tissue. Contains gelatin.
Tail. Contains a large amount of collagen, has excellent gelling properties.
Flank. The membrane of the abdominal cavity, consisting of one-third of the cartilage and bones. It makes a rich broth.
Shoulder blade. It makes very tasty and tender boiled meat.
Rump (mid thigh). Lean tender meat with fine fibers, has good taste qualities boiled.

Important! When buying a shank, tail or shank, ask that you immediately cut them into pieces of 5-8 cm, otherwise you won’t be able to do it yourself at home.

Step by step cooking

Rinse the shanks under running water, wash the cut places especially well from small chipped bones and put them in a large saucepan. Fill them with five liters clean water and place the saucepan over medium heat.
Once the water in the pot boils, reduce the heat to low. Skim off any foam and fat from the surface of the broth.
Peel one onion, carrot, parsley or parsnip root, optionally a piece of celery.
When the foam stops forming, add one peeled onion, cut in half, and one whole, well-washed onion in the husk to the pan. Also add roots cut in half, celery sprigs, parsley stalks and carrots cut into three parts, as well as 5-7 pieces of allspice and ground pepper.
Cook without a lid at a barely noticeable boil for 3-4 hours.
Rinse the beef pulp (1 kg) well under running water and cut into pieces.
Put them in a bowl and, bay boiling water, leave for 5-7 minutes.
Drain the water, and transfer the meat to a saucepan with boiling shanks. Continue to boil the jelly for another three hours, skim off the foam as needed. About half of the water should boil away.
Lightly salt the broth 30 minutes before the end of cooking.
Strain the finished broth through a cloth dipped in cold water.
Set aside the broth, and let the meat cool slightly, separate it from the bone, disassemble all the meat into fibers or cut with a knife.
Finely chop the fresh parsley leaves and add to the meat. Salt and pepper the meat well and mix well.
Divide the meat into trays or serving dishes.
Separate one head of garlic into cloves, peel them and chop with a knife.
Place the garlic in a paper towel-lined colander.
Skim the fat from the cooled broth, reheat it, salt if necessary, and strain through a colander with garlic so that the broth absorbs the aroma of garlic.
Pour broth over meat in molds or trays.
Cool everything to room temperature and put in the refrigerator to harden.

Beef jerky video recipe

You will learn all the subtleties of cooking and how many hours to cook beef jelly from the proposed video.

Useful properties of jelly beef

Beef jelly cooked according to classic recipe, contains valuable substances and vitamins and has useful properties:

The presence of collagen provides the body with building protein- a material for connective tissues, cartilage, which can wear out with age. Collagen is responsible for healthy joints, firm skin and the absence of wrinkles.
The presence of all B vitamins determines the process of hematopoiesis and the formation of hemoglobin, improves blood counts, and also ensures the normal functioning of the nervous system.
Retinol, which is one of the main antioxidants present in jelly, removes harmful radicals from the body, strengthens the immune system and improves vision.
Amino acids (lysine and glycine) are also found in jelly. Lysine has antiviral properties and promotes the absorption of calcium in the body, while glycine reduces the feeling of fatigue, normalizes brain function, relieves stress and relieves long-term depression.

There are simple rules for preparing jellied meat:

You need to cook aspic on the smallest fire so that it does not boil so much as languish.
Do not be lazy to collect the foam, the transparency of the jellied meat depends on it.
In no case should you add water to the boiled jelly.
You can salt the broth only at the end because of its constant boiling.

If you don’t really like beef dishes, you can cook, and if you add meat to pork domestic rooster for better solidification, then you will get a rich - jelly chicken and pork -. You can cook aspic from only one or replace the chicken with a turkey and cook tasty and healthy. There are a lot of options for preparing jellied meat, choose according to your taste.

I told you how to make beef jelly, and you will definitely write what jelly is cooked from in your family, and share your cooking secrets.