If the jellied meat is not frozen, how to add gelatin. The jellied meat has not frozen, what should I do? The history of the appearance of jellied meat

The New Year's table should be plentiful, because, as the people wisely note: how you celebrate the New Year is how you will spend it. Of course, it is important that we are all well-fed, satisfied with the contents of the refrigerator and the abundance of the family menu. So we'll catch...

The New Year's table should be plentiful, because, as the people wisely note: how you celebrate the New Year is how you will spend it. Of course, it is important that we are all well-fed, satisfied with the contents of the refrigerator and the abundance of the family menu. Therefore, we will catch 2015, as they say, “with live bait” - on a table bursting with delicious dishes. And the highlight of the program, of course, will be jellied meat, the preparation of which is a whole science. How can one be “uneducated” in this matter, what to do if the jellied meat has not frozen?! First of all, do not be afraid to experiment and always have a backup plan, or better yet 3, and now you will get to know them.

  • Ode to aspic
    • Varieties of dishes
    • Useful properties of aspic
  • The jellied meat is not frozen - reasons
  • 3 options for solving the problem
    • Gelatin is a housewife's best friend
    • Upgrade dishes
  • Dish readiness test

Ode to aspic

This dish was born by chance. In ancient times there were no refrigerators, so people prepared food for future use only when the temperature was comfortable for storing ready-made dishes. One of the then keepers of the hearth was not a very good housewife, so not only did she overcook the broth, as a result of which the family could not finish it, but she also left the pot right above the fire - on the street, where the temperature was below zero.

Waking up in the morning, the unfortunate housewife got ready to cook breakfast and then saw that the broth had changed - it had frozen and became more attractive in appearance. The woman tried the jelly, which turned out to be delicious, and offered a new dish to the family. This is how jellied meat was “born”, like many other ingenious things - out of laziness, one might say. So we should mentally thank the young lady from the distant past for such a delicious discovery, without which not a single holiday can be completed now.

Varieties of dishes

Many people believe that jellied meat is a folk dish. Others claim that this dish is a delicious food that came to us from France. Who is right? You will be surprised, but both sides.

This is why jellied meat received the title of national dish. During the times of serfdom, landowners had to feed their “collective” with something. Since meat dishes used to be held in high esteem, but there were no refrigerators, the rich were forced to share with their serfs what was left after eating. To ensure that the leftovers turned out to be a homogeneous mass, and none of the unwitting people would fight for the best piece, the cooks ground the meat left over from the hosts’ meal, placed the mixture in a vat, boiled it and allowed the stew to cool. The result was jelly. In appearance, of course, it was not as attractive as modern jellied meat, but the taste was very good. In addition, the meat dish was excellently satiating, and for serfs, strength was the main asset, as you understand.

And now about the gourmet jellied meat option. It was brought to us by French chefs in an era when everything foreign was fashionable in Russia. In France, jellied meat was prepared mainly from game, and special spices were added to the dish.

There is also such a variety of jellied meat as jellied meat, which was “born” in tsarist times. Meanwhile, at first this dish was exclusively fish. But due to the shortage of fish in the distant past and its incredible high cost, people decided to change the aspic, so instead of fish they began to put chicken, pork and beef in the dish.

Useful properties of aspic

In some cases, doctors prescribe their patients to include jellied meat in the menu. Why? After all, in essence, this dish is heavy and fatty. It's all about the composition; the broth is replete with gelatin, which is so necessary for a person to strengthen and heal bones. Therefore, doctors, however, advise patients with fractures to lean on jellied meat. The more jellied meat eaten, the faster the likelihood of throwing away crutches and returning to a full life. But this is not the only reason why aspic is useful.

Check out the full list of the miraculous powers of jellied meat:

  • increasing immunity;
  • strengthening the functioning of the nervous system;
  • slowing down the aging process;
  • improving the functioning of the digestive system;
  • fighting depression;
  • elimination of symptoms of fatigue.

This is important to know! Women should definitely include jellied meat in their diet, because it is literally an elixir of beauty. The vitamins it contains help improve skin and activate metabolism, and collagen actively fights aging.

Video recipe for making jellied meat

The jellied meat is not frozen - reasons

It's time to move on to the most crucial moment - finding out the reasons why the jellied meat has not frozen, because 2015 is just around the corner, which means we need to start thinking through the New Year's menu and looking for alternative ways to make the dish both beautiful and tasty, right? ?!

So, you cooked the jellied meat, put the delicious food in trays or plates, moved it to the refrigerator and are proud of your feat. But when you get up in the morning, you discover that the aspic has not frozen, perhaps it has become a little thicker, but that’s all. Tragedy? Yes, if you don't know what to do. And to know this, you need to determine the reasons. These include:

Discussing the reasons in more detail when the job has already been done is a waste of time. The past cannot be returned, we need to somehow correct the situation, because 2015 is just around the corner, we will soon sit down at the table. So, what to do if the jellied meat is not frozen?

3 options for solving the problem

If a dish fails, this does not mean that you need to throw it away and start crying. The product is quite edible, and correcting mistakes is a matter of technique.

Gelatin is a housewife's best friend

The fastest and most effective way to correct the situation is to add to the aspic what it lacks - gelatin. So, step-by-step instructions for “saving” aspic using gelatin:

This is important to know! Do not overdo it with gelatin, otherwise the jellied meat will turn into gum. Wise housewives recommend taking 20% ​​of the amount indicated on the package; this will be enough for the aspic to harden.

Upgrade dishes

Some housewives say that real jellied meat should not contain store-bought gelatin. The issue is controversial, since the finished gelatin in its composition is no different from the “brother” formed in the broth. But it’s better not to argue with true housewives, so it’s suggested to consider how to upgrade a failed jellied meat.

First, buy what was missing in the dish - pork legs, ears, beef tails. It is from these parts that gelatin is released.

Secondly, transfer the contents of the plates into a saucepan and heat. Strain the broth and imagine that it is water for a new jellied meat. Cook everything as usual, and at the end add the meat from the first version to what was cooked. Thus, you will get a double-strength broth with increased “meatiness,” which means that the jellied meat after the upgrade will not only be well-frozen, but also taste wonderful.

The easiest way to fix jellied meat

For those who are ever lazy, there is the easiest way to correct mistakes - to cook soup from jellied meat, which, after a hearty feast, will become a real “lifesaver” in the menu of people who have eaten too much of all sorts of goodies the day before.

Dish readiness test

As they say, it’s better to measure 100 times and only then start cutting. Same with jellied meat. In order not to be upset that the dish is spoiled, and not to waste time correcting mistakes, check the “tendency” of the broth to harden. So, how to test for a liquid’s readiness to solidify:

Now you know what to do, if the jellied meat has not frozen, then the family New Year's dinner will be impeccable.

In winter, especially on the eve of the New Year holidays, jelly, or jellied meat, is a mandatory dish on the tables. This is an excellent cold meat snack, which probably will not be understood in European countries.

Despite the love of jellied meat by many people, young housewives are often simply afraid to start preparing it. Indeed, the cooking time is quite long (about 8 hours), you need to be patient and it is advisable not to leave the house for a long time. But still, preparing jellied meat is considered simple.

It is very important to strictly follow the recipe, choose the right meat, use the right amount of water, and then the jellied meat will freeze perfectly without the additional addition of gelatin and other substances.

Meat

Previously, jellied meat was cooked from those parts of a killed cow that were unsuitable for other dishes. Today, you can cook any meat from any part of the body of an animal or chicken.

Only for good hardening it is necessary to take legs and shanks. When boiled, the skin, veins and cartilage in them make the broth viscous and sticky.

From meat you need to choose one that will not spoil due to long cooking - pork knuckle, beef, chicken. If you want to cook jellied meat only from chicken, then it should only be domestic and bony, an old rooster is perfect.

The amount of meat must be strictly according to the recipe, otherwise the jellied meat will not harden. The ratio of legs and pulp should be one to two.

All meat should be washed well, the legs should be cleaned if necessary, and they should stand in cold water for several hours. Then this water is drained, and again you need to pour clean cold water just above the level of the meat. Cold water temperature is important for flavor.

After boiling, this water needs to be drained, rinse the slightly cooked meat, add cold water again, and put on medium heat until it boils. Then the foam is removed and the fire is reduced to minimum. Such simmering for 6–8 hours gives the jellied meat richness and aroma. Throughout the entire time, you need to skim off the foam and, if desired, the fat.

Two hours before the end of cooking, add a whole onion without peeling and several peeled carrots. After another hour, the broth needs to be salted. The water is not salted from the very beginning, because it boils away, and the jellied meat may turn out to be over-salted. After half an hour, you can add bay leaf and black peppercorns.

When the fire is already turned off, you need to let it rest for about 20 minutes, adding finely chopped garlic and salt to taste. Then you can separate the meat from the bones, finely chop it, skin and cartilage.

Everything is laid out in molds and filled with strained broth. Some housewives stir so that the jellied meat hardens evenly, while others like it when the meat remains at the bottom, covered with a layer of jelly.

Freezing

After pouring, the plates should stand at room temperature, then it is not recommended to leave the jellied meat to freeze where it is very cold. The optimal temperature is a few degrees Celsius. If everything is placed in the refrigerator, then away from the freezer.

There are situations when jellied meat freezes very much in the refrigerator or on the balcony. Of course, this immediately alerts housewives to see if it has spoiled, whether it will harden after defrosting, and what it will taste like.

Considering the many years of experience in preparing jellied meat in many countries, there is nothing catastrophic in freezing jellied meat; it does not need to be thrown away or given to animals.

Some housewives re-digest it by boiling it a little, but only if gelatin or other binding substance was not added to it. After this, you can add more garlic and pour into molds.

Some chefs note that the broth may darken slightly, which only slightly affects the aesthetic appearance of the jellied meat. However, it is not recommended to refreeze it several times so that it does not really lose its taste.

What to do if the jellied meat does not freeze?

Before finishing cooking, it is advisable to check the broth for the possibility of solidification. To do this, you need to take out some liquid and cool it. If a film appears on the surface, it means that the jellied meat is prepared correctly and will soon harden. You can also rub the broth between your fingers. If they start to stick together, everything is fine.

When things take a different turn, the situation is most often corrected with the help of gelatin. It is prepared according to the instructions. If the jellied meat has already been poured into plates, you need to return it to the pan, boil and cook for a few more minutes.

The meat is separated, the dishes are laid out, and heated gelatin is added to the hot broth, then poured onto the meat.

Those who do not want to add gelatin can additionally buy legs and boil them in water. At the end of cooking, add the meat from the old jellied meat, and then do everything as usual.

Even with experienced housewives, it sometimes happens that the jellied meat does not freeze. This happens because the cooking process is disrupted: either the proportion of water and meat has been changed, or the jellied meat was cooked from products that contain too little natural gluten. What to do if you have a full pot of failed aspic on your hands, and the holiday is already approaching?

How to prepare high-quality jellied meat?

To make the jellied meat tasty and freeze properly, you should take more bones, tails, hooves and legs. These can be pork or beef legs, ears and tails, or chicken legs - they have a large amount of gluten. Meat should make up a smaller part (or half) of the entire cooking set. A very tasty aspic is obtained if it contains beef and chicken, especially since chicken itself has a high percentage of gluten.

When preparing jellied meat, it is important to maintain the correct proportions.

When all the legs and tails have been cleaned, cut and placed in a pan, they should be filled with water just enough to barely cover the meat. After boiling, the heat is reduced and the pan is covered with a lid. This way the jellied meat is cooked for several hours. If more water has boiled away than you wanted, then under no circumstances add more - this is precisely the reason why the jellied meat will not harden!

Then you should check the jellied meat for readiness and gelling. To do this, pour 1 tablespoon of cooked jellied meat into a saucer and place it in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. Then take out the saucer and touch the jellied meat with your fingers - if the fingers become sticky and stick together, then the jellied meat is cooked correctly. It will freeze perfectly. If your fingers are not sticky, it is worth adding gelatin so that the jellied meat freezes for sure and does not spoil the festive table.

What to do if the jellied meat is not frozen?

If the jellied meat is already ready and has been in the refrigerator for several hours, but has not frozen, then this problem can also be corrected with gelatin. To do this, reheat the jellied meat again and drain all the liquid. Then dilute the gelatin and pour it into the jellied meat, and then pour it into the molds again and send it to harden in the refrigerator.

Gelatin will help fix a poorly prepared dish.

Gelatin is taken at the rate of 20 g per 1 liter of water. From this 1 liter of water (or failed jellied meat) you need to pour 250 ml, heat it until warm and pour in gelatin. Let it brew for 40 minutes. Gelatin should increase several times, so carefully look at the expiration date of the product. Stale gelatin does not have a jelly effect. Place the saucepan with the swollen gelatin in a water bath and, stirring, bring almost to a boil.

Important! Gelatin should not boil, otherwise it will completely lose its gelling properties.

After the water bath, strain the gelatin through cheesecloth and pour into the cooled jellied meat. Heat the jellied meat slightly, stirring thoroughly so that the gelatin spreads throughout the pan and dissolves. Then pour into molds and let cool to room temperature, then put in the refrigerator. Advice: do not cook more jellied meat than you can eat in 2-3 days. After the third day, the jellied meat begins to “leak,” which means that it is no longer fresh.

Note to the hostess

If you have free time, go to the store again and buy chicken legs, wings or necks - those parts of the chicken carcass that, after prolonged cooking, give a good jelly.

You can also use a soup set, which also contains enough bones.

Sometimes a misfortune awaits the housewife: the jellied meat, which took more than one hour to prepare, remains in the state of a semi-liquid mass even after cooling. What can be done in this case? First of all, don’t panic, as everything can be fixed.

Secondly, start “saving” the dish.

If the broth in the jellied meat has not frozen, it means there is little gelling agent in it. Regular gelatin will help replenish it. Pour it into a glass jar or glass, fill it with lukewarm water, following the instructions on the package.

Usually 20 g of gelatin (or one pack) is enough for 2-3 glasses of liquid (this includes broth and water to dissolve the gelatin). Leave the gelatin mixture to swell.

Instant gelatin is poured with hot water. But, as practice shows, the water should not be too hot, otherwise lumps will form that are difficult to dissolve. Place the failed jellied meat in a saucepan, put it on the fire, and heat it well.

Drain the liquid into a separate bowl, then strain it through cheesecloth. Heat the swollen gelatin in a water bath or in the microwave until hot, stir, strain through a strainer. Combine with hot broth, add salt and pepper if necessary. Place the meat in molds and fill with broth. Place the warm jellied meat in the refrigerator to harden.

The favorite dish of our male half of the family) We cook it often and a lot, we stick to the classic recipe. I don’t like jellied meat with the addition of gelatin; it really seems rubbery. Good idea with "next day soup". Is it possible to make turkey jellied meat? Happy New Year!

I’ve cooked jellied meat many times, and it didn’t freeze for me only once (due to the fact that I didn’t cook it for enough time).

My secret is this: to prepare jellied meat I always use pig ears or legs (in common parlance “gomilka”). The jellied meat must simmer on fire for at least six hours. And one more feature - the meat that is cooked for jellied meat must be detached from the bones during cooking. Then the dish will be 100% successful.

The male team of our family really loves pork jellied meat. It always freezes well. But we girls love chicken, and it doesn’t always freeze well, sometimes it turns out like porridge. Your article will help us. We add a lot of gelatin to the chicken, and only then does it harden. We wanted to add pork there too, but haven’t decided yet. I also did it with a rabbit, but it also didn’t freeze a little, although they assured me that it freezes well. Thanks for the advice, we will enrich the New Year's table.

Irina, if you don’t want to mix flavors, buy chicken “hands” (paws), which, as we say, are manicured))). They contain our lifesaver. Even if you boil them separately in a small amount of water, then it hardens into jelly. Just remove the nails and the skin if they are not very clean. Then you just remove it or feed it to the dogs, mine only gnawed it like that.

I know that people add salt and nibble on them themselves.) And my grandmother always cooked pork jellied meat with ears and legs, you don’t even need to add gelatin. And of course it takes a long time to cook, yes, but it’s worth it. And even if the liquid has boiled away, under no circumstances should you add water. So we cook from what is left.


There may be several reasons for this. First of all, these are not the same products. If the broth contained a small amount of tails, necks, wings, legs and a lot of first-class meat, this may be the reason for this outcome. The jellied meat may not harden if you did not cook it long enough, and the jelly part simply did not have time to boil out of the bones. The jelly does not freeze if there is a lot of water. It also happens that the refrigerator does not work well and does not cool the contents enough. In this case, the jellied meat is also unlikely to freeze. Whatever the reason for the liquid jellied meat, the matter can be corrected. The main thing is to know how to do it.

Why didn't the jellied meat freeze?

If you are so disappointed, it doesn’t matter. The situation can be completely improved. For this you will need some more offal. Some housewives make the mistake of boiling unfrozen jellied meat again in order to thicken it. They believe that the broth will become thicker and then it will certainly harden. This is not true, such a broth will not harden, since all the jelly substances simply die during strong boiling. If the jellied meat is not frozen, you need to do this.

First, you need to strain the unfrozen jellied meat to separate the meat from the broth. Add the washed offal to the broth and set to simmer for 4 hours. As a result, we get an incredibly rich and strong broth that will certainly harden. You need to strain it and add the meat that we removed at the very beginning. Place the jellied meat in the refrigerator for the final stage of preparation.

The history of the appearance of jellied meat

Russian people have long noticed that if meat broth is oversaturated with meat and bones and is not eaten immediately, then the next day it turns into a viscous porridge. This was considered a disadvantage, and such a dish was treated with dissatisfaction, so it was on the table of poor people or servants. They called it jelly.

Then a fashion arose in Russia to hire chefs from abroad. And jellied meat, the French “galantine”, came to us. They prepared it in different ways: they added beef, pork, rabbit, turkey, sterlet, pike, tinted it with spices, and used eggs.

In your case, make sure it doesn’t end up on the table right away. I would do this: prepare gelatin, pour the broth from the unfrozen jellied meat into some separate bowl, if it is not enough, you can also dilute the broth cube with boiling water (a couple, three), add it to the broth, and stir the gelatin there. Pour this deliciousness over the meat crumble, mix carefully again, and set in the refrigerator.

In principle, of course, you can add a couple or three spoons of strained gelatin (after bringing it to a boil) directly into the plates and mix, but the first option seems to me more optimal. In any case, the situation can be corrected by tomorrow.

Sometimes a misfortune awaits the housewife: the jellied meat, which took more than one hour to prepare, remains in the state of a semi-liquid mass even after cooling. What can be done in this case? First of all, don’t panic, as everything can be fixed. Secondly, start “saving” the dish.

Note to the hostess

To do this, all the resulting jellied meat is poured into one container. Pour a packet of gelatin into a separate plate and fill it with warm water. Let it brew for 40 minutes. After this, the gelatin, which must increase in size, is heated in a water bath, but not allowed to boil. During the heating process, the component should be stirred constantly.

Work on mistakes

In the event that the jellied meat was simply not finished cooking, you should simply bring it to the desired condition, and then check its readiness using the above test. As a rule, this will require an additional 2-3 hours of time. As in the previous method, all undercooked jelly should be poured into one common container and left to simmer for the specified time.

It's simple. You need to soak the gelatin in slightly warm water or in jellied broth, as written in the instructions. It is advisable to boil jellied meat that has not frozen yet again. When the gelatin swells, you need to strain it (so that there are no lumps left), bring to a boil and pour into the boiling jellied meat, stir and immediately turn off.

For the future - in order for the jellied meat to freeze, you need to use a lot of bones (soup sets) and pork skin (I then throw it away). To obtain 1-2 liters of jellied meat, use 4-5 kg. bones with little meat on them. Bones are the best of 3 types of meat - beef, pork and chicken (not chicken legs, but local bone chicken, which is cooked for at least 2-3 hours).


Sometimes a misfortune awaits the housewife: the jellied meat, which took more than one hour to prepare, remains in the state of a semi-liquid mass even after cooling. What can be done in this case? First of all, don’t panic, as everything can be fixed. Secondly, start “saving” the dish.

Note to the hostess

If you have free time, go to the store again and buy chicken legs, wings or necks - those parts of the chicken carcass that, after prolonged cooking, give a good jelly. You can also use a soup set, which also contains enough bones.

Jellied meat is good from any meat, the main thing is that it is cooked with soul. For a more delicate consistency and taste, jellied meat is cooked from rooster with the addition of chicken legs, which help the dish harden. Transparent beautiful jellied meat is made from beef. Pork gives the dish a cloudiness, but if you add onions to the broth when cooking, and then remove the fat so that you don’t get a thick fat film on top, then such jellied meat can also be quite beautiful and transparent. Combinations of chicken, pork and turkey, or beef and chicken are quite tasty. Every housewife knows the preferences of her family and is guided by their tastes when choosing meat for preparing jellied meat.

All the necessary ingredients have been selected, prepared, and in a saucepan on the stove, our delicious dish is quietly and peacefully gurgling, spreading an unbearably delicious aroma throughout the house. This always creates anticipation for the holiday among household members and the housewife, having poured the finished dish into trays or plates, thinks only of one thing: what if the jellied meat has not frozen - what to do?! There is no need to panic so much about this; if all the proportions of the meat are observed correctly, it will definitely harden.

In order to check its stickiness and ability to harden, you can try the broth on your fingers at the end of cooking - if it sticks, it will definitely harden! If you still have doubts, you can pour a little liquid into a plate and put it on the balcony or in the refrigerator. If after 15 minutes the jellied meat has not frozen, what should you do then? First, you need to leave it to cook and after some time, repeat the hardening test again. If it still doesn’t harden, you need to soak it and add gelatin. After this, let the broth boil again so that it does not spoil quickly. For those who absolutely do not like gelatin, you can put chicken feet or turkey wings in a saucepan and cook.

But this is not all the problems associated with cooking jellied meat. Very often the housewife is faced with the following question: what to do if the jellied meat has been over-salted? The most important thing is to never add water to it! This can completely ruin the whole taste. There are other ways to correct this annoying misunderstanding. The surest way to save the taste of jellied meat is to take some rice, tie it in a linen or gauze bag and put it in the broth. The rice will draw out excess salt from the dish. You can beat the protein and lower it into the broth, and then, when it absorbs excess salt, remove it with a slotted spoon.

Boiled jellied meat can be beautifully decorated. First pour a little broth into a plate or tray and refrigerate. Then, when it hardens, beautifully arrange boiled vegetables, pieces of meat, herbs on this layer, then fill it again to the top with broth. On the table it will look very beautiful and appetizing. Jellied meat should be cooked according to the number of people so that it does not sit in the refrigerator for a long time. Some housewives ask: how long can jellied meat be stored? It’s probably not worth it for more than 3 days, because it will begin to deteriorate and lose its attractive appearance. In addition, the dish will gradually become less tasty and aromatic.


The composition of jellied meat includes pork and/or beef, pork legs, ears and tails, pig heads, chicken legs and their meat. There are quite a few options for preparing jellied meat, and there are quite a few recipes for this dish. Each mistress She decides what to cook from and what ingredients are available. In its essence, jelly is nothing more than a frozen broth with the addition of boiled vegetables and meat. But what to do, did the jellied meat not freeze?

First of all, don't despair. This matter is quite fixable. However, first of all, it is worth understanding the reasons for your culinary failure. In principle, there are only two of them. One of them is a violation of the proportion of water and meat. To properly cook jellied meat, you need the water to barely cover the meat. After boiling, reduce the gas and cover the pan with a lid. If more water has boiled away than expected, then you should not add more liquid. Otherwise, the jellied meat will not harden at all. The second reason is that the jelly is not cooked enough. The longer it cooks, the tastier it becomes. In addition, the broth becomes more concentrated in fat and substances that allow it to thicken. Checking jellied meat for readiness is very simple. You need to take some liquid and pour it into a plate. After keeping it in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes, it will become clear whether the food is ready or not.

If the jelly is poured into cups, has cooled down a long time ago, but still does not freeze, this is also not a reason for despair. Of course, you can cook a new one, but you always feel sorry for spoiled products. Therefore, it is necessary to drain the liquid, return it to the pan and continue to cook. After boiling the jellied meat for several hours over low heat, pour it into cups again. Of course, the possibility remains that it will not harden again. This can happen if the products used in its preparation contain a small amount of gluten. That is why it is best to put less meat in jellied meat, but more bones, tails, hooves and legs. To increase confidence in your culinary abilities, gelatin is often added to jellied meat. An excellent tool for experienced housewives not to lose face. Gelatin must be filled with warm water. After infusing for 40 minutes, it should increase several times. Next, it is heated over very low heat or a water bath, stirring continuously. The main thing is that it does not boil, otherwise there will be no use from it. After the water bath, the gelatin is filtered and poured into slightly cooled jellied meat. After mixing well, pour it into cups. When the liquid reaches room temperature, the jelly can be placed in the refrigerator for final hardening.

If the broth in the jellied meat has not frozen, it means there is little gelling agent in it. Regular gelatin will help replenish it. Pour it into a glass jar or glass, fill it with lukewarm water, following the instructions on the package. Usually 20 g of gelatin (or one pack) is enough for 2-3 glasses of liquid (this includes broth and water to dissolve the gelatin). Leave the gelatin mixture to swell. Instant gelatin is poured with hot water. But, as practice shows, the water should not be too hot, otherwise lumps will form that are difficult to dissolve. Place the failed jellied meat in a saucepan, put it on the fire, and heat it well. Drain the liquid into a separate bowl, then strain it through cheesecloth. Heat the swollen gelatin in a water bath or in the microwave until hot, stir, strain through a strainer. Combine with hot broth, add salt and pepper if necessary. Place the meat in molds and fill with broth. Place the warm jellied meat in the refrigerator to harden.

The jellied meat may not freeze due to the fact that the meat has not been cooked long enough. If you have free time, go to the store again and buy chicken legs, wings or necks - those parts of the chicken carcass that, after prolonged cooking, give a good jelly. You can also use a soup set, which also contains enough bones. Boil the chicken in a small amount of broth, adding spices and salt to taste. Separate the pulp from the bones and strain the broth. Place the unfrozen jellied meat into a saucepan and place on the fire. When the jelly-like mass turns into broth, pour it into another bowl, cool until warm, and strain. Mix both types of meat and place in molds. Combine the new and old broth. Pour it over the meat. Put it in the refrigerator. Tip: If you have broth left after boiling meat for a failed jellied meat, cook a new batch of meat products in it. Then you will have a very strong broth, which will undoubtedly harden. You should not try to make jellied meat thicker by simply boiling it - without adding a second portion of meat or gelatin. When boiling, a portion of gelatin added during the preparation of the first jellied meat will lose those properties due to which ordinary broth turns into jellied meat. Read more How to clarify broth for jellied meat

Note to the housewife: When cooking meat, be sure to remove any fat that appears from the surface of the broth, otherwise it will acquire a greasy taste from long boiling. When heating gelatin, do not bring it to a boil, because its gelling properties disappear. It is enough to bring it to such a temperature that the crystals easily dissolve, but the gelatin itself does not boil. You should not add more gelatin than the recipe requires. This not only gives the dish an unpleasant aftertaste, but also becomes very dense and rubbery. Jellied meat should not be placed in the freezer. Once in room conditions, it begins to rapidly melt. If you take the jellied meat out onto the balcony in winter and leave it overnight, make sure that the temperature on the balcony does not drop below 2–3°C. If for some reason you don’t want to remake the jellied meat, cook soup from it. But the broth from jellied meat turns out to be quite cloudy, which is not suitable for every soup. Cook a first course in which the opaque broth will not be noticeable. It can be borscht, solyanka or any puree soup. The finished jellied meat is stored in the refrigerator in a closed container (so that its aroma is not transferred to other products) for no more than 2-3 days. After a few days, its taste deteriorates sharply, and its appearance also deteriorates.


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Even the most experienced housewife, at least once in her life, has encountered a situation where the jellied meat she prepared, unfortunately, did not freeze, despite the fact that the dish was prepared according to her favorite recipe, maintaining all the proportions and recommendations.

Eliminating the causes

To eliminate such a deficiency, first of all, it is necessary to establish why this happened. Experienced chefs claim that, by and large, there are only two reasons why the aspic has not acquired its usual state. Most often, the dish does not freeze because the proportional ratio of liquid and meat has been violated. The dish is guaranteed to have the desired consistency if the water slightly covers the meat. To do this, immediately after the broth boils, reduce the gas and cover the container tightly with a lid. Then the proportions will be perfect.

The second, no less common reason is that the jellied meat was simply not cooked enough. Therefore, the composition did not produce the amount of thickening substances that was necessary. It’s easy to check the state at which the dish is ready. You just need to pour a little jelly into a plate and put it in the refrigerator. After 20 minutes, check its condition. If it has frozen, you can remove the dish from the heat. If not, continue cooking.

Work on mistakes

So, the reason has been established. Now a number of measures should be taken to “reanimate” the dish. In the event that the proportions of liquid and meat have been violated, experienced chefs recommend correcting the situation by adding gelatin to the composition.

To do this, all the resulting jellied meat is poured into one container. Pour a packet of gelatin into a separate plate and fill it with warm water. Let it brew for 40 minutes. After this, the gelatin, which must increase in size, is heated in a water bath, but not allowed to boil. During the heating process, the component should be stirred constantly.

In the meantime, the unfrozen jellied meat is heated, and then strained gelatin is poured into it. Actively mix the ingredients and remove the dish from the heat. Pour into plates, cool, and place in the refrigerator. Now the dish is guaranteed to harden.

In the event that the jellied meat was simply not finished cooking, you should simply bring it to the desired condition, and then check its readiness using the above test. As a rule, this will require an additional 2-3 hours of time. As in the previous method, all undercooked jelly should be poured into one common container and left to simmer for the specified time.

The taste and aroma of the “modified” jellied meat will be absolutely no different from the original version. These simple methods have helped more than one housewife save her treasured jellied meat.

As you can see, there is a way out of every situation. It’s certainly a shame when a dish doesn’t work out, especially if it’s a favorite and a signature one. But, as we see, everything can be fixed. Even uncured jelly can be brought to the desired consistency. Don't panic ahead of time.