Beef Aspic Recipe – Homemade Beef in Jelly
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- Easy
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Today I’m going to show you how to make a delicious beef in aspic by yourself. It’s simple and super quick to make.
Beef in aspic is a nice change from the classic aspic. It’s perfect for a snack or as a dinner.
I cure my beef for 3 days before it is further processed. So plan with this time ahead.
I use Bloom 240 aspic powder in my recipe, but you can also cook out pigs feet and pork shank. These cuts have a lot of collagen. This makes the beef firm on its own after it cools. See my german Sülze recipe for instructions.
Here you can find the complete beef in aspic recipe as a video or to read through.
Have fun and good luck making it!
Table of Contents
Beef in Aspic – What do you need to make it?
Ingredients
| Ingredient | Grams | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| beef (e.g. beef brisket) | 500 g | |
| pickles | 250 g | |
| final aspic (10% vinegar and 90% cooking broth) | 250 g |
Spices
| Ingredient | Grams |
|---|---|
| salt | 22.5 g |
| sugar | 3 g |
| cure #1 | 2.5 g |
| broth | |
| Bloom 240 aspic powder | 55 g |
| onions | 50 g |
| salt | 20 g |
| pepper | 1.5 g |
| allspice | 0.75 g |
| cloves | 0.25 g |
| water | — |
| 1.5 medium bay leaves | — |
The equipment to make beef in aspic
Artificial casings, jars or tins
You can fill the sausage into jars, tins or artificial casings. For jars, I usually use Weck jars. I recommend artificial casings, caliber 45/25 for a smaller diameter or 60/25 for a wider one.
For readers in the EU: you can buy these casings in my German shop. Artificial casings, caliber 45/25, 5 pieces, Artificial casings, caliber 60/25, 5 pieces.
For curing in a vacuum bag, you need a vacuum sealer. Dry curing without a vacuum bag is an alternative; see my guide to curing meat.
Make beef in aspic – Step-By-Step Instructions
Day #1:
Weigh the beef. Based on the weight, weigh out your salt, cure#1 and sugar mixture.
Pour the salt, cure #1 and sugar mixture over your beef. Make sure each side is covered with the mixture.
Place the beef in a vacuum bag and vacuum seal. Alternatively, you can use a zip-lock bag (the air should be pushed out as much as possible). It is important that the complete salt/cure#1/sugar mixture is in the bag with it.
Cure the meat per cm thickness for about 1.5 days. In my case, it was cured after 3 days.
Day "2" (curing process completed):
Quarter the onion.
Put the onions, water and spices (except for the aspic powder) in a pot.
Stir the ingredients and put the meat in the broth. Make sure that the meat is covered with water.
Let it simmer for about 2-3 hours until the meat is tender. Again, the time varies with the thickness of the meat. If it is still too firm -> let it simmer further.
Cut the pickles into strips.
Once the meat is cooked through, you can take it out of the broth. As you can see in the picture, it is super tender.
Now pull the beef apart with two forks.
Optional: If you don’t want strips, but rather pieces, you can put the meat through a meat grinder. Then I also recommend you to cut the cucumbers into cubes instead of strips.
Mix the meat with the pickle strips.
Pass the broth through a sieve. It is best to put an additional kitchen paper in the sieve. This way the broth will be as clear as possible.
Weigh your broth and add the vinegar. I end up using about 25% of the sausage as aspic. But the amount is up to you, depending on whether you want a lot or a little aspic in the final cut.
Add the aspic powder to the liquid and mix well. If the aspic powder has not dissolved, you can heat the liquid again. However, the broth with the aspic should not boil anymore. The amount depends on which aspic powder you use. The final aspic should be firm to the touch.
Add the broth to the meat and pickles.
Pour the mixture into artificial casings or jars.
Let your beef in aspic cool overnight.
Your beef in aspic😄 is ready. Enjoy it.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the beef go into a vacuum bag?
Why does the beef go into a vacuum bag?
Because the cure has to stay on the meat. You weigh the beef first and weigh the salt, the cure and the sugar against that weight, so the mixture in front of you is the exact amount that piece needs — and every gram of it has to end up in the bag with the meat rather than on the board. That is what step 3 is insisting on. A zip-lock bag with the air pressed out does the same job if you have no vacuum sealer.
The bag also holds the meat in its own brine. Salt pulls liquid out of the beef over the next few days, and in a sealed bag that liquid has nowhere to go, so it stays in contact with the meat and carries the cure back into it. In an open dish it would simply run away. How long it takes goes by thickness rather than by weight, which is why step 4 counts centimetres.
What is an artificial casing?
What is an artificial casing?
A manufactured casing rather than a natural one. Natural casings are cleaned gut; an artificial casing is made for the job, comes in a fixed caliber and a straight tube, and holds its shape while the aspic sets. That is all the word means here — the beef itself is beef. Nothing in this recipe is artificial except the tube you can set it in.
Jars are the alternative and they are the easier one. You get the same set and a shape you can slice straight out of the glass, and unlike a casing a jar can be cooked down and kept. Whichever you fill, the mixture needs its night in the fridge before it is cuttable; the aspic is what holds it together, and it is not holding anything until it is cold.
How long is the shelf life of the beef in aspic ?
How long is the shelf life of the beef in aspic ?
Your beef in aspic will keep for 3 days in the refrigerator.
