Aspic (kholodets, jelly)

Meat Dishes | Russian

Aspic (kholodets, jelly) is a dish of meat stock (broth) with pieces of meat, which becomes gelatinous from cooling, an analog of the German brawn. The dish has been known in Russia since the XVI century. There are a lot of recipes for aspic and jelly. But aspic, as a rule, is prepared from certain parts of neat’s feet or pork trotters (shanks). The shank meat is quite stiff, lean and has many tendons, so it is boiled soft in a few hours. Having boiled the meat soft, it is released from all tendons, cut finely, seasoned with crushed garlic, salted, covered with broth and put in the cold to chill. Aspic is served with horseradish (the most traditional version), less often with mustard or mayonnaise.

Ingredients

Beef shank - 2 kg
onion - 2 bulbs
carrot - 1 piece
garlic - 1 head
parsley - 1 bundle
bay leaf - 1 piece
black pepper mignonette - 1 tbsp.
salt
creamy horseradish – for serving

Preparation method (receipt)

Cut the onions and carrots into half, fry them slightly in a dry frying pan until brown burns. Put pieces of shank in a deep wide saucepan and cover with 6 liters of cold water. Bring water to the boil under medium heat, add salt and skim off the foam. Add onion, carrot, parsley, peppercorn and bay leaf. Cook on the lowest heat for 8 hours. The broth should not boil: boiling should be scarcely noticeable. Take the shank out of the broth, remove the meat from the bones and take to the fibers. Put the garlic through a wringer. Place the meat in rectangular pans, top with garlic. Cover with the broth and refrigerate for 4 hours. Remove fat from the top. Serve cold, with creamy horseradish.

beef shank onion carrot garlic parsley bay leaf peppercorn creamy horseradish