Only jelly lovers can appreciate aspic!

The first time I met with aspic was about 7 years ago, at a Polish friend’s house for a classic Polish Christmas. I think Alp hated the first time he tried (although he was happily eating the fish version the next day!) but I loved the idea! I love jelly. I know it is ridiculus but that doesn’t stop me from loving it. But why is it always sweet? Why not savory? Same thing with the soft drinks, why are they always sweet? There is only ayran (yoghurt drink) and nothing else! What the … Ehem, anyway, back to the subject. In that state of mind a savory jelly with ham, eggs etc became a favourite!

We tried it the day we came back and we make it a few times each year. This week I wanted to use the gelatine I had at home as well as a huge bag of bones that I got from our butcher and that was the opportunity! And it’s low carb, keto friendly. All of them are meaningless excuses. In fact, the last time I was at the famous butcher of our bio-market, I bought two small aspics and it wasn’t enough (enter Turkish idiom here: not even enough for the tooth’s hollow – we Turks have loooots of idioms, one for each occasion -enter another idiom: a cure for every trouble) and we needed more. As I cannot properly follow a recipe, I did my own version. I don’t know whether it is original or even close to original, but here it is – and it tastes gooood:

Aspic

First I cooked the bones in a pressure cooker for 8-10 hours, under pressure but not too high heat to release steam. I ended up with a bone broth with lots of collagens and gelatine. I worked hard to pick up and throw away the greasy top coat. If you don’t throw it away you can actually use it instead of butter and it tastes very good but as I often make broth, I cannot use it that often. Actually there is an easier way to separate the grease, let it rest overnight in the fridge and the grease will solidify on top, but I couldn’t wait. (I may be impatient but I am the one working to compensate it so deal with it!) Since the gelatine of the broth wasn’t enough I also added extra gelatine to avoid ending up with a ham soup =)

As filling I used diced ham (and/or chicken or anything you want), minced parsley and hard boiled eggs, and seasoned with salt and pepper. After this let it solidify in the fridge and that’s all folks! Use your creativity, try whatever you see fit and I’m sure you will end up with a recipe that you like!

Türkçesi için buraya tıklayın