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Jelly in a New Year's bottle

New Year's Meat Aspic in a Bottle

Sliced into rounds, this aspic makes a striking centerpiece. Holodets—a Slavic-style meat aspic—shaped in a bottle is made just like any other. You can cook it from chicken, pork, or beef. The key is enough gelling power: if you use mostly meat, add gelatin; but if you start with beef or pork feet or hocks, it'll set firmly on its own. For a fun presentation, the aspic is poured into a trimmed-down plastic bottle. Serve it with horseradish, mustard, hot sauces, marinades, and pickles.

naniki

Recipe author

Composition / ingredients

Servings:

Pork feet

Chicken breast

Onion

Carrot

0.25

Parsley

Salt

Bay leaf

Peppercorns

Water

Translation table of volumetric measures

Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe

By weight of the composition:

Proteins 67 % 6 g

Fats 33 % 3 g

Carbohydrates 0 % 0 g

52 kcal

GI: 0 / 0 / 0

Cooking method

Step 1:

We'll make this aspic in a bottle from pork feet and chicken breast—that combination gives a firm, meaty result. Get out a pair of pork feet, a chicken breast, an onion, a carrot, some herb stems, bay leaves, black peppercorns, and salt.
Step 2:

Prep the meat: scrape the pork feet well and rinse them with hot water. (If they aren't already cleaned, the ones sold at most supermarkets are ready to go and just need a quick wash.)
Step 3:

Peel the onion and carrot and trim the herb stems. Cut the vegetables into large chunks.
Step 4:

Put the pork feet on to cook: cover them with water, bring to a boil, and skim off the foam. Add the vegetables and simmer gently for 3 hours. Then add the chicken breast and cook for one more hour.
Step 5:

Lift everything out of the broth and let it cool until just warm. Take a plastic bottle (buy a new one for this—plastic containers shouldn't be reused) and cut off the neck; you'll want the bottom part, like a cup.
Step 6:

Pull all the meat off the bones and shred the chicken into strands.
Step 7:

Add garlic crushed through a press.
Step 8:

You can leave the meat as is, or run it through a meat grinder or food processor—the aspic sets up firmer that way. So I used a food processor.
Step 9:

Divide the meat among molds, including the trimmed bottle. Pour the settled broth over it and stir until evenly combined. Refrigerate until fully set.
Step 10:

The aspic in a bottle is ready! It set beautifully without any added gelatin—pork feet are full of connective tissue, which does the job.
Step 11:

Snip the bottle open along both sides with scissors and turn the aspic out onto a platter. Slice it into rounds of any thickness and serve.
Step 12:

Serve the aspic the traditional way—with mustard, horseradish, soaked or fresh lingonberries or cranberries, pickles, and marinades. Enjoy!