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Pork and beef jelly in a slow cooker

Pork and Beef Aspic (Kholodets) in a Slow Cooker

A traditional holiday centerpiece! Kholodets — savory meat aspic — has been made for ages and was always considered a special-occasion dish. It uses plenty of meat and takes a long time to cook, so it's not the most convenient thing for a busy weekday. Made with beef and pork, it comes out especially delicious.

Julia M.

Recipe author

Composition / ingredients

Servings:

Pork trotters

Beef

Onion

Carrot

Bay leaf

Salt

Dried spices

Water

Garlic

Peppercorns

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

49 kcal

GI: 0 / 0 / 0

Cooking method

Step 1:

Before you start, rinse the trotters and meat in cold water.
Step 2:

Put everything in a large basin and cover with clean, cold water. Let it soak for 4–6 hours, then drain and rinse the meat well again.
Step 3:

Put the peeled onion and carrot in the slow cooker. Add salt, pepper, spices, and the bay leaves. Don't oversalt — it's better to taste the finished broth at the end and adjust the salt then.
Step 4:

Add the soaked meat and trotters. You can cut the meat into 2–4 pieces to fit more easily. Fill the pot with water (cold is fine), stopping about an inch (2–3 cm) from the top. Set it to the "Stew/Braise" mode for 6–7 hours — I do this overnight. A slow cooker makes this really convenient.
Step 5:

When it's done, take the meat out of the broth, let it cool a bit, and pick through it carefully, removing all the bones.
Step 6:

Divide a little meat among your serving dishes and pour the strained broth over it. This batch filled 5 medium dishes for me.
Step 7:

Peel the garlic and press it — 1–2 cloves per dish, to taste. Then refrigerate for a few hours until fully set. Enjoy!

You can also make aspic in a regular pot, but you'll need to top it up with hot water now and then as it boils down. A slow cooker makes the whole process much easier. There are countless versions of kholodets, but they all have one thing in common: they're made without added gelatin. The secret to a good set is a rich, concentrated broth cooked from cuts with bones, joints, and cartilage. Pork trotters and hocks are the best for this. The rest of the meat is up to you — beef, chicken, or lamb.