The last time I made pork jelly was back in 1968. It was the first New Years Day I spent in Canada. I haven’t kept up with this tradition, because even though Jim was amazed with my pork jelly making abilities, he didn’t really like the “chilly soup”. After more than 45 years of togetherness he didn’t feel the same obligation and the “Would it be at all possible to heat this up just a little bit” translated into warming up his carefully arranged and fully gelled kocsonya in the microwave!!! Apparently the pork jelly tastes delicious piping hot. So even though I love kocsonya I am not sure when I will make it again.
I remember Hungarian bistros selling the same pork jelly in salads, over sandwiches, and of course one kaszinótojás used to be covered with a thin layer of pork jelly too. But this is different. This jelly is not an appetizer or a garnish. Eaten with a chunk of rustic bread this was the New Years meal of my childhood. On New Years Eve my grandmother used to line up the soup plates with the stock by the kitchen window and left the window open a crack so the stock could gel. Some people got fancy with it; they put all sorts of decorations inside the jelly, from onion slices to hard boiled egg slices. I have even seen slices of dill pickles “floating” in the jelly. I kept to the basics and decorated my jelly with what I cooked in the stock.
People make pork jelly from pork feet, ears, tongue, pork rinds and tenderloin. I used a good sized pork hock and a chunk of tenderloin for mine and as you can see mine jelled perfectly. It is not necessary to cook vegetables in the stock, but I like them in mine. The basic requirement is pork meat, bone and rind and of course lots of garlic. Pork jelly is not a lot of work; it just takes a long time to cook. Slowly simmer it for a whole day and then eat it on the next. Do NOT cover the pot; the liquid has to reduce to about 1/4 of the original amount. People who complain about not gelling reduce the stock only part of the way. I started out with 16 cups of cold water and ended up with 4 cups of clear stock. As you can see mine gelled very well. In retrospect, I regret adding the paprika to the stock; because you cannot really see how clear my pork jelly was as most of the paprika sank to the bottom. I just dumped in the paprika when I remembered my grandmother sprinkling paprika on top of the finished pork jelly. Ah well…To keep the stock clear, you must simmer the stock ever so slowly; a little faster than erőleves, but it must not come to full boil at any time, because boiling makes the stock cloudy and unappetizing.
Makes 6 servings.
HUNGARIAN PORK JELLY
2 lb pork hock
250 g pork tenderloin
2 carrots
2 parsnips
1 large onion cut into halves
6 cloves of garlic
1 tsp pepper corn
sprinkling of chilli pepper flakes
1 bay leaf
salt [very sparingly]
16 cups cold water
Hungarian paprika for sprinkling
• Clean and wash meat products and wash and peel the vegetables.
• Set aside 2 cloves of garlic for use later and place the rest of the ingredients in a stockpot.
• Add salt, but sparingly. Remember you are starting with 16 cups of liquid, but in the end the salt that you add now will be concentrated into 4 cups of liquid.
• Add the cold water and bring it to a simmer.
• Do not let the soup come to full rolling boil, this makes the stock cloudy. Also, it is the rapid boiling that brings up foam to the surface and with slow simmer this will not be an issue.
• Maintaining a slow simmer, cook the soup uncovered for 10 hours.
• After ten hours the stock has reduced considerably.
• Take the pot off the heat and let it cool down somewhat.
• Take out the pork hock and place it in a bowl to cool.
• Take out the carrots and the tenderloin and set it aside to cool.
• Pour the remainder vegetables with the stock through a fine sieve catching the stock in a container. Do not press down on the remaining vegetables; this would make the stock cloudy. At this point you will have about 6-7 cups of stock.
• After everything cools down to room temperature cover the pork hock and the vegetables that you set aside and place it in the fridge for the night.
• Cover the stock and place it in the fridge.
• The following day, cut the hock into smaller pieces and place them in a clean stock pot.
• Dice the 2 cloves of garlic you set aside and add to the pot.
• Take out the stock and you will see it has jelled, but not enough. Remove the fat layer and discard.
• Add the stock to the pot and bring it to a slow simmer again.
• Let the stock simmer for 2 hours longer.
• After 2 hours of slow simmer you will have 4 cups of stock left.
• Adjust the salt content. But be careful not to over-salt, because you cannot add more water to the stock.
• Remove the hock pieces and either discard or cut out the meaty bits for consumption. [I didn’t keep it.]
• Place a large fine sieve over a bowl and line it with a clean, wet muslin.
• Pour the hot stock through the lined sieve.
• Your stock is the bowl, clear and wonderful. This is when I added 1 tsp of Hungarian paprika to the stock, but this was a mistake.
• Next is setting up the plates for the jelly. If you don’t have Hungarian soup bowls, pasta bowls are the best for serving the pork jelly.
• Remember the tenderloin and the carrots you put in the fridge last night? Take them out and slice them neatly and arrange them in the bottom of 4 to 6 soup plates. Ladle the hot stock over them carefully, not to disturb the meat slices or the carrots.
• Let everything cool down to room temperature and then carefully transfer the plates to the fridge and let them chill for 2-4 hours.
• Just before serving sprinkle authentic Hungarian paprika on the top and serve the pork jelly with a chunk of rustic bread.
• Clean and wash meat products and wash and peel the vegetables.
• Set aside 2 cloves of garlic for use later and place the rest of the ingredients in a stockpot.
• Add salt, but sparingly. Remember you are starting with 16 cups of liquid, but in the end the salt that you add now will be concentrated into 4 cups of liquid.
• Add the cold water and bring it to a simmer.
• Do not let the soup come to full rolling boil, this makes the stock cloudy. Also, it is the rapid boiling that brings up foam to the surface and with slow simmer this will not be an issue.
• Maintaining a slow simmer, cook the soup uncovered for 10 hours.
• After ten hours the stock has reduced considerably.
• Take the pot off the heat and let it cool down somewhat.
• Take out the pork hock and place it in a bowl to cool.
• Take out the carrots and the tenderloin and set it aside to cool.
• Pour the remainder vegetables with the stock through a fine sieve catching the stock in a container. Do not press down on the remaining vegetables; this would make the stock cloudy. At this point you will have about 6-7 cups of stock.
• After everything cools down to room temperature cover the pork hock and the vegetables that you set aside and place it in the fridge for the night.
• Cover the stock and place it in the fridge.
• The following day, cut the hock into smaller pieces and place them in a clean stock pot.
• Dice the 2 cloves of garlic you set aside and add to the pot.
• Take out the stock and you will see it has jelled, but not enough. Remove the fat layer and discard.
• Add the stock to the pot and bring it to a slow simmer again.
• Let the stock simmer for 2 hours longer.
• After 2 hours of slow simmer you will have 4 cups of stock left.
• Adjust the salt content. But be careful not to over-salt, because you cannot add more water to the stock.
• Remove the hock pieces and either discard or cut out the meaty bits for consumption. [I didn’t keep it.]
• Place a large fine sieve over a bowl and line it with a clean, wet muslin.
• Pour the hot stock through the lined sieve.
• Your stock is the bowl, clear and wonderful. This is when I added 1 tsp of Hungarian paprika to the stock, but this was a mistake.
• Next is setting up the plates for the jelly. If you don’t have Hungarian soup bowls, pasta bowls are the best for serving the pork jelly.
• Remember the tenderloin and the carrots you put in the fridge last night? Take them out and slice them neatly and arrange them in the bottom of 4 to 6 soup plates. Ladle the hot stock over them carefully, not to disturb the meat slices or the carrots.
• Let everything cool down to room temperature and then carefully transfer the plates to the fridge and let them chill for 2-4 hours.
• Just before serving sprinkle authentic Hungarian paprika on the top and serve the pork jelly with a chunk of rustic bread.
