How to cook cold meat

This winter original dish is indispensable at any festive feast. However, many housewives do not know how to properly cook a cold, considering its preparation too troublesome and long-term business.

Not being one of the types of jellied, because it does not have jelly-like substances, such as agar-agar or gelatin, the jelly is in its composition rather closer to the jelly. In the western regions of Russia, where this dish is prepared from pure pork or mixed with beef broth, it is called jelly. There are many varieties of holodtsa - it's jelly from the cock in Moldova, mozhozhi in Georgia.

However, the question of how to cook a cold, or rather its canonical variety, the answer sounds unequivocally - from beef. More precisely, from the leg, which is better not to cut, but to saw with a large hacksaw, and soup pulp. Sometimes a leg can be replaced by two or three tails. Sometimes a jellyfish is made from pork, while it has the same pleasant, though slightly sweet taste, but the broth will turn out a bit unclear. In this case, you can use not only the meat parts and the wheel, but the pork ears and tail.

In general, the most ideal recipe for how to make a cold is to prepare it from cow's feet, head and brains. Sometimes it is customary to use the front beef shank - shank, which contains the largest amount of gelling agent. A special feature of the holland is its high caloric content, as well as the ability to easily assimilate the body and maintain its useful properties in the cold.

And how correctly to prepare a cold so that it turns out jelly-like, transparent and strong? To do this, you need to immediately determine the amount of water poured into the pan before starting the cooking, in order not to add it later. Periodically, the broth must be mixed, not allowing the liquid to boil out strongly. The process of cooking lasts from six to ten hours, depending on the quality of the meat and the amount of the original product. It is very convenient to cook a jelly in a pressure cooker, for which the washed meat and vegetables are placed in a pan and just one hour after boiling the dish is ready.

In ancient Russia the peasants knew how to cook a cold so that it was not muddy, cooking it on low heat and periodically removing the foam formed from the surface. From the broth it is necessary to collect from time to time the fat, which some then uses when frying vegetables. If the landlady wants to get a uniform composition, then the meat should be mixed with the broth, finely chopped, and poured into molds. Meat can be grinded by different methods: hands, a meat grinder, which although it will be some deviation from the classical approach, but it will be much quicker to freeze such a cold.

Carrots and other roots are added in the process of cooking, after which they can either be thrown away, or left for decoration. The onion is placed in the broth unpeeled, as its husks give a golden hue. But the bulb itself should be thrown away at the end of cooking. In the traditional jelly is not added many spices, so as not to bring down the natural smell of meat. Somewhere half an hour before the end of the brewing, dill is dropped into it, giving the dish a special flavor, pepper, black and fragrant, bay leaves, plenty of salt, more than with the usual strong broth. Garlic is added to taste.

You can decorate the jelly with a boiled egg, lemons, green onions, carrot slices and salted cucumber.

It turns out how to cook a cold, many people know, but now, with the light hands of professional chefs in the restaurant menus began to appear fried with vegetables, seafood, dessert versions of them - coffee, fruit or chocolate - you can confidently say that there is no specific recipe. It is important to do this with love. Bon Appetit!