Vegetables, Pork, Pork legs, January, Aspic

Pork jelly

For many, pork jelly is an indispensable participant in the New Year or Christmas menu. This tradition is long-term: our grandmothers and great-grandmothers followed it. True, many have preserved childhood memories of the process of preparing jelly in their memory as a rather difficult and long one. Of course, one cannot but agree with the latter, but we would argue with the first statement. There is nothing particularly difficult in this matter, because, in fact, jelly is cooked almost all the time on its own: your task is only to process the meat at different stages. First, it must be washed (possibly, the bones cut), then, when it is cooked, it is cut, laid out in shapes and poured with strained broth. Need more detailed instructions? Please! Do not hesitate: your jelly will turn out really tasty and appetizing.

Ingredients

Servings 10
  • large pork legs - 4 pcs.
  • pork pulp - 1.5 kg
  • large onion - 1 pc.
  • large carrots - 1 pc.
  • small parsley root - 1 pc.
  • bay leaf - 1 pc.
  • garlic - 4-5 cloves
  • black peppercorns, salt - to taste

Cooking

Step 1

Prepare pork legs. Clean them with a knife, then wash them thoroughly and pour boiling water over them several times. Wash the pork flesh and cut into large pieces.

Step 2

Transfer the pork meat and legs to a large saucepan. Pour in drinking water so that it covers the meat with a layer 1.5 cm high. Put on high heat and bring to a boil.

Step 3

Remove the foam with a slotted spoon. Peel the onion, carrot and parsley root, then chop coarsely and lightly fry in a hot frying pan without oil. Add to pot with pork.

Step 4

Reduce the fire to a minimum. Boil uncovered for five hours. Don't add water. 30 minutes before readiness, put the bay leaf and peppercorns. Salt to taste.

Step 5

Remove meat and vegetables from pot. Strain the broth through cheesecloth, folded in half, into a clean saucepan. Close the container with a lid and keep in a warm place until use.

Step 6

Remove the pulp from the legs and finely chop it. Peel and chop the garlic. Finely chop the pork flesh. Arrange all the meat in molds, sprinkle with garlic. Pour in the strained broth in a thin stream and let cool completely.

Step 7

Put in the refrigerator for 4-5 hours. When it hardens, carefully scrape off the frozen fat that has risen to the top with a spoon. Before serving, coarsely chop the jelly and decorate as desired.

Gallery