Aspic for the Year of the Tiger
Description
A delicious appetizer for any gathering. For the appetizer to set well, for the broth it's best to use parts of the carcass with the most collagen: pig or beef feet, tails, pig ears, marrow bones, or a whole fatty chicken. Any lean meat will work for the meat portion. I bought a large chicken, 4 pig feet, and a large skinless pork knuckle. It turned out to be an excellent balance—lots of meat, and the aspic set perfectly. Don't expect a clear broth from pork; it's hard to achieve, and you'll need to force-clarify it if you want that. For clear aspic, you need beef. The appetizer is ready. Serve immediately.
Instructions
- 1
Step 1
Prepare the ingredients for kholodets. For decoration, you will need carrots and pitted black olives. I decorated only 2 plates in a tiger theme; I served the rest as usual.
- 2
Step 2
Soak the pork knuckles in water for several hours; if there is an odor, add a little vinegar — it will remove it. Wash the pork knuckle and the chicken. Place the clean prepared meat in a large pot (10-12 liters) and cover with clean cold water.
- 3
Step 3
Simmer the meat for 20 minutes, drain the broth.
- 4
Step 4
Cover the meat with clean cold water so that it is fully submerged with an extra two fingers of water (to allow for evaporation), and bring to a boil. Simmer over very gentle heat for 5 hours.
- 5
Step 5
After 5 hours, add the peeled carrots, onion, salt, bay leaf, black peppercorns, and allspice. Cook for another 1 hour. If the carrots are thin, 30 minutes of cooking is enough.
- 6
Step 6
After 6 hours, the aspic is ready. Remove from the heat.
- 7
Step 7
Remove the bay leaf, peppercorns, and allspice from the broth. Remove the meat, set aside to cool, then separate it from the bones. Add garlic pressed through a press (3–4 large cloves) to the broth and adjust the salt.
- 8
Step 8
Take a convenient container for the aspic that will be easy to flip later to remove the aspic. I use thin stainless steel trays—they’re convenient for storage. I’ll decorate only 2 plates in a New Year’s theme; the rest I’ll prepare in the classic style. Place thinly sliced olives on the bottom of the tray to imitate the black stripes on a tiger’s coat.
- 9
Step 9
Place the carrot grated on a square grater (Korean vegetable grater) over the olives, imitating tiger fur.
- 10
Step 10
Carefully arrange the meat on top of the carrots.
- 11
Step 11
Slowly pour in the broth in small portions so that the meat does not float to the top. Once the meat is covered, you have added enough broth.
- 12
Step 12
Chill the aspic in the refrigerator for 8 hours.
- 13
Step 13
Turn the ready aspic out onto a serving plate, garnish with herbs, and serve.
- 14
Step 14
Who wants a piece of tiger aspic? Happy upcoming New Year!