The traditional Hungarian jelly

The traditional Hungarian jelly is made from the pork’s less noble, cartilaginous, boney, collagenous parts. The religiously cleaned nails, nose, tail and skin are the essential parts of the jelly. The ingredients, mainly the nails must be cleaned and chopped in half, then add four liter water to the four nails. Put it onto the fire and when it starts to boil, skim the foam with a smaller strainer.

hungarian kocsonya ingredients

Then it must be salted, add the spices too. Don’t forget to put in a greater head of onion in it, and four cloves of garlic (or if you like to, even more), four bay leaves, a teaspoon of whole peppers, a bit of saffron or turmeric. You can also add carrots, chards and celery, but these are not necessary. When the liquor is boiling again, turn the fire smaller, to let the jelly boil very slowly. The good jelly must be boiled for four hours on a small fire, otherwise it will be granulous. It is ready when the half of its liquor is boiled away, and the meat is unstuck from the nail itself.

hungarian kocsonya

If the liquor is boiling away too fast, add some hot water to recover it. You can only be sure that the jelly is tied, when a few drops out of it settles on the verge of a plate that got out from the fridge. If the liquor is too salty, the jelly won’t ties, nor when the liquor is too much and it not contains enough gelatin rich skin, boney, cartilaginous parts.

hungarian nice kocsonya

When the jelly is ready, it must be strained. The bones must be got out from the warm meat parts, and distribute into plates to taste. You can serve the jelly with separately boiled vegetables and eggs (chopped in half) of course, beside the boiled meat from the jelly. For those who are on a diet, it can be served with separately boiled chicken breast, with a lot of vegetables. If you drop some lemon juice on it, it can be more digestible.

hungarian kocsonya in plate

The liquor of the jelly must be scoured. The most of the fat -came together on the top- must be merged with a spoon, the rest must be cleaned with a white paper towel. If the liquor is not clear enough, it can be settled. For the settling the white of the egg must be beaten up with tomato purée and a few drops of vinegar, and add a few from the liquor carefully metered. Mix it well, then slowly add to the jelly liquor whit continuous mixing. Mix it well with a beater, boil it up, and let it blow for a few minutes. Get it down from the fire, and let it settle. Filtrate it through on a well cleaned gossamer like textile or tucker.

taste hungarian kocsonya

The portioned jelly must be let cool down, then put it into the fridge. It you did it well, the jelly settles within a few hours.

(More details: Wikipedia, Hvg.hu, mikormennyi.blog.hu)