Turkey aspic
Description
Suits both a holiday table and everyday. It’s not enough to make jellied meat—you also need to serve it with flair. There are several rules for setting jellied meat in aspic, and I’ll tell you about them. Jellied meat is layered so that vegetable and egg décor and garnishes don’t “drift off” and spoil how the dish looks. The appetizer is ready. Serve right away.
Instructions
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Step 1
1. If your turkey thigh is on the bone, remove the bone. You can cut the meat into several pieces. Put it in a pot. Pour in water. Use enough water to cover the meat completely. Choose a wider pot.
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Step 2
2. Add carrots, leeks, a regular bulb onion, and a clove of garlic to the meat, and put everything on to boil. Salt to taste when the meat starts to boil. Skim the foam off the boiling meat.
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Step 3
3. The meat for turkey aspic needs to simmer for about 50 minutes. While it cooks, skim off one ladle of broth and cool it in a separate container. Take the cooked meat out of the broth, pull it off the bones, and dice the flesh into small pieces.
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Step 4
4. I suggest setting the aspic in individual portions. For this, wide straight-sided glasses, small cups, or soup bowls like these work well. On the bottom of each mold, lay a couple of slices of boiled carrot.
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Step 5
5. To make the broth clearer, you can beat a raw egg white and pour it into the broth. The yolk will coagulate, picking up impurities, and clear your broth. Strain through a fine sieve. In the cooled broth (the portion you set aside separately), dissolve the gelatin. Let it bloom. Pour it back into the strained main broth and bring nearly to the boil, but do not allow it to come to a full boil. Switch off the heat.
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Step 6
6. Pour 3 tablespoons of aspic stock over the carrot. Let it cool slightly, then transfer to the refrigerator so the stock sets. It will hold the garnish in place, and the pattern of our aspic will not change. Once the stock has set at this stage, arrange canned peas in the dish at a rate of 2–3 tablespoons per serving. Pour over with aspic stock and let cool.
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Step 7
7. Then arrange the meat. Pour the broth over it. Put it in the refrigerator to set. Remember: there should be enough meat in the mold so that your aspic is not just broth. When you turn the aspic out, the bottom may settle. To avoid that, do not skimp on the meat. I filled the mold with meat not quite to the top so that each portion aspic would not be too tall.
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Step 8
8. Remove the set aspic from the refrigerator. For a few seconds, place it in boiling water together with the container—that will make it easier to unmold the aspic. Turn the aspic out onto a plate and give it a gentle shake; it will release. You’ll get a result as beautiful as this.
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Step 9
9. Serve the turkey aspic at the table.