Features of cooking jelly from pork legs and chicken

On the eve of New Year's events, each hostess carefully prepares a festive menu. Olivier salad and jelly, as a rule, are always present in it. In the common people, jelly is also called jelly. You can cook it not only for the New Year, but also as an everyday dish, although not every housewife wants to spend a lot of her time. The same applies to the main composition of the jelly. It can be made with chicken, beef or pork. Someone likes to combine different types of meat, and someone is attracted by one type of meat products. The taste of the dish varies depending on the ingredients used. But the highest demand is for jelly from pork legs and chicken.

Aspic of pork legs and chicken is considered the most popular dish of Russian cuisine. Even in the time of the kings, it was the jelly that was located in the center of the dining table. In the modern world, it is not prepared so often, unfortunately, the cooking process takes a decent amount of time, so jelly is mostly made for the holidays.

The shelf life of the finished jelly is approximately 4 days. During this time, it must be eaten, otherwise it will deteriorate and spread, turning into a jelly porridge. Based on this knowledge, every housewife can cook jelly a day or two before the festive event, and on the day of the holiday, make quick dishes, salads, snacks and hot dishes.

As for the composition of the jelly, in principle, the dish is not considered high-calorie, especially in comparison with other dishes of the festive table. 100 grams of finished jelly contains 114 calories. The value of BJU in these 100 g is as follows:

• proteins - 9.5 g;
• fats - 8.4 g;
• carbohydrates - 0.2 g.

No matter how juicy and tasty the jelly may seem, not every person can eat more than 200 grams in one sitting.

To prepare a very tasty and healthy jelly, you should carefully consider the choice of the main ingredients.

• Pork should be fresh, not stale, for its purchase it is best to go to the market. Already there, the imported goods cannot be treated with chemical compounds that hide the old appearance of meat products.
• The same goes for pork hooves and shank. Their shade should be light, without any dark spots. There should be no mucus to the touch.

• Before buying, you should not only look at the selected piece of meat, but also smell it. A fresh product should have a pleasant, even sweetish aroma.
• If the meat was purchased in a frozen state, it must be transferred to a large container, poured with water and left overnight. By morning, the meat will melt, then you can start cooking with it.
• Chicken for jelly is best purchased from familiar farmers. Home products are famous for the fact that when growing poultry and livestock, no chemical additives are used to enhance growth and increase the size of the carcass.

Today in the culinary world there are many options for preparing Russian jelly. But the most common is the classic recipe for jelly from pork legs and chicken.The cooking process is very long, but to a greater extent you have only to observe, rather than take an active part. Before you start creating a chicken and pork masterpiece, you should prepare the necessary products:

• pork leg - 1 pc.;
• pork knuckle - 1 pc.;
• ham - 1 pc.;
• carrots - 2 pcs.;
• onion - 6 pcs.;
• black peppercorns - 1 tsp. l.;
• water - 3 liters;
• garlic - 3 cloves;
• bay leaf - a couple;
• salt - to taste.

Having collected the entire list of required products, you can start cooking.

• First you need to thoroughly rinse the meat. Then put the meat platter in a container and cover with water. Set aside for 3 hours. During this period of time, the remaining blood will be drawn out of each piece.
• The used water is drained, the meat is washed again. Chicken pieces should be checked for feathers and hairs. If any are present, the meat should be singeed, at home, on a stove with an open flame.
• After these manipulations, all the meat pieces are placed in a deep saucepan, filled with clean water and placed on the stove.
• Boiled liquid must be replaced with fresh. Put it on the stove again. This must be done to get rid of excess fat.

• While the meat is simmering, prepare the vegetables, peel them and rinse thoroughly. You can cut vegetables into strips, a semicircle and even cubes, depending on the desire of the cook. But most often vegetables, cut into rings, are lowered into the jelly.
• Then all the ingredients are lowered into the broth languishing over a small fire.First vegetables, then bay leaf, pepper and salt. To obtain an extraordinary taste, salt is added in the amount of 1 teaspoon per 6 liters of water.

• In this form, the pan remains on low heat for 7 hours. The lid can be closed, cook the mass. This time is enough for the meat to become soft and freely separated from the bones. At the end of the cooking time, vegetables are taken out first. Meat is laid out on a separate plate.
• The broth itself should be strained. Someone is more comfortable with the help of gauze folded several times, someone trusts a metal sieve more. The main thing is that the broth is clean and transparent.
• Slightly cooled meat should be separated from the bone and finely chopped. Transfer the assortment to a container and pour over the strained broth.
• The pan is put back on the fire so that the meat warms up and the remaining fat rises to the surface. A shallow spoon for sauteing vegetables will help get rid of it.
• Ready broth must be checked for salt. It should be slightly salty in taste. The meat absorbs the excess. It is important not to forget to add finely chopped garlic.

• While the future masterpiece of Russian cuisine is infused, forms with high walls should be prepared. It is best to use glass bowls so that the jelly is not saturated with foreign odors.
• For the beauty of the design, you can again separate the ingredients into separate containers. Put meat on the bottom of the form, vegetables on top, pour this beauty with broth. If there is no desire to create layers, you can simply pour the mass from the pan into molds in accordance with the proportions of the ingredients.
• After pouring, the mass should cool slightly. Then everything is sent to the refrigerator for final solidification.
• This cold cold cuts dish is served on the table along with mustard.

Judging by the classic recipe and its features, everyone can cook jelly. Special knowledge of culinary skills is not required, only patience and endurance. It is worth noting that in most cases, housewives prepare jelly with gelatin, but judging by the recipe provided, this binding material is inappropriate.

Recently, a prefabricated jelly with beef has become in great demand. It's easy to make, just time consuming. The cooking process is approximately 10 hours. But the broth turns out to be transparent, and the jelly itself is very tasty. To prepare a prefabricated jelly, you will need to purchase a small list of products:

• veal tail - 1 pc.;
• leg and knuckle of a pig - 1 pc.;
• chicken skeleton - 1 pc.;
• onion - 2 pcs.;
• garlic - 1 head;
• ginger root - 5 cm;
• salt - 3 tbsp. l.

You can start creating a culinary masterpiece.

• The meat is washed, transferred to a refractory container and filled with water. Bring to a boil over low heat.
• The resulting foam is constantly removed.
• Then the broth is salted, whole onions, about 5 cloves of garlic and ginger are laid out in it.
• It takes about 8 hours to cook this mixture on low heat.
• After boiling, the onion, garlic and ginger should be removed from the broth, the cold cuts should be pulled out, then the liquid should be strained.
• The meat is finely chopped and laid out in molds. A little crushed garlic is laid out in each cup. And all this is filled with broth.

Having decided to cook jelly, every housewife wants to get the perfect result.In addition to taste, the jelly should be transparent, no yellowish hues and turbidity. To do this, you should use a few tips from experienced chefs.

• In the preparation of any kind of jelly, gelatin is necessarily used, but in order not to add an excessive amount of this connecting element to the dish, it is best to start the pork legs in the cooking process.
• All types of meat that can be used in the preparation of jelly are selected at the discretion of the cook. It can be a dish exclusively of chicken or assorted pork and rabbit. Very rarely, for medical reasons, a person is forbidden to consume certain types of meat products, in this matter it is better to play it safe and find out everything in advance.

• Few people know that the addition of vegetables to jelly is carried out not only to diversify the flavor combination of the finished dish. Some substances contained in the same carrots replace several types of spices.
• Very often, after preparing the jelly, you can see the upset look of the hostess, the reason for this is the yellow tint of the finished dish. To avoid this trouble, it is enough to lower the whole onion into the pot with broth during the cooking process. It is important that the bulb is unpeeled. The husk just destroys the yellowness.

Using these tips, anyone can create in their kitchen not just an appetizer, but a real work of culinary art.

For information on how to cook jelly from pork legs and chicken, see the following video.