Carnivore Jello Question

(Fiddlestix H. McWhiskers) #1

I’ve decided to experiment with plain jello made from beef gelatin. From what I’ve read, it’s zero carb. I’ve got my first batch cooling in the refrigerator right now. My question is, has anyone ever tried making this same thing but adding citric acid powder for taste? I’m going by a 1Tbsp gelatin to 2 cups water ratio and absolutely no sugar. So, if you’ve tried it, how much citric acid would you add? And how is it? I got to thinking about it after having 2 tablets of lemon lime alka seltzer. It’s delish.

(Bean) #2

I react to citric acid, so no. But I have made it with green tea and electrolytes.

(Fiddlestix H. McWhiskers) #3

Well, the plain gelatin was pretty gross. There wasn’t really any flavor at all; it was just kind of like eating water, but eating water is surprisingly gross. I still plan on experimenting with citric acid, but I’ve stumbled upon something I remember seeing on tables when I was a boy: Aspic.

The idea of a savory, meaty, carnivore jello sounds very intriguing to me. I absolutely must try it. Anyone who has experience with non fruit/non sweet aspic, please chime in.
Beef%20Aspic

(Bean) #4

Tomato juice is a classic aspic addition. Your citric acid would work if you tolerate it (the powdered stuff is derived from a mold, not citrus).

I regularly eat cold homemade chicken broth. AKA chicken aspic. You could infuse some rosemary or something for flavor.

Play around with the flavors. Now that you know the ratio to get it to set, you can do your own thing.

(KM) #5

A version of aspic can be made without gelatin at all. Making “stock” with animal skin will yield a delicious jelly-like product from the collagen in it. You’re basically making gelatin from scratch, with all the other flavors - from meat and aromatic veggie scraps and salt - included. Just be sure to strain it before refrigerating, and note it won’t be particularly clear.

(Fiddlestix H. McWhiskers) #6

Well, I guess I can skip experimenting with citric acid:

#7

I am a Hungarian, savory aspic is a HUGE thing here. Pig trotters and extra skin are used (supermarkets sell packages for making aspic especially when it’s “aspic season”. IDK why it has a season, it’s probably traditional), among other things. Some people enjoy it with just skin in the jelly. My SO is into meaty ones. And I enjoy when it has plenty of both and can eat it without meat though I very strongly prefer meaty ones. My SO’s Mom makes a ton of aspic every year and we get a lot (oh the no-meat bowls still has flavors from the meat, just no extra meat pieces). She loves gnawing (if it can be called gnawing when everything but the bones are super soft :D) on the trotters, I don’t often touch meatless animal parts, it’s different in a cold aspic for some reason… I don’t think anything else than the right pork pieces, salt and water is added. Surely some Hungarians add vegs but not everyone. It’s not soup, the animal parts are in abundance and pork is very tasty. Tastes differ though, obviously.

It’s a nice carni food, I must say. I never can resist :slight_smile: When my SO got into a serious accident and I was shocked and couldn’t even eat all the nice pork roast I have just made, I still easily swallowed all the aspic I got from his Mom. It was just as tasty as always even if my enjoyment was muted.

Maybe I should make aspic myself? But I won’t buy those packages with too much skin to my liking (and I can’t get trotters otherwise but I don’t even like to look at trotters, I like meaty things. it’s different when the food is ready… and so much work, one makes aspic in big amounts. and it takes many hours)… Oh no, I have enough roasts and soups and the liquid always get jellied :smiley: That’s so much fun especially with some meat morsels on the bottom! So I eat jelly very regularly even if it doesn’t exactly taste like the proper aspic. As mine is way weaker, obviously as I don’t use skin and usually bone either. But it still very well holds its shape and doesn’t easily tear, not even when it’s thin. The lower meat and high skin content obviously changes the flavor too…

I enjoy the interesting texture of jelly too, it’s not all about the (admittedly very good) flavors.

I have looked at googled photos. Apparently, most Hungarians make this dish it without any vegs, some adds some (at least partially for decoration as it makes it pretty) and some just adds a slice of lemon (like for a drink) and maybe a tiny amount of vegs when it’s ready… But maybe that was only for the photo, who knows? :smiley:

By the way, head cheese is a distant relative of aspic. It’s not very apparent though as it is very dense, full with meat and skin and the tiny jellied part is red from paprika. Good head cheese is amazing, the supermarket variety is far from that. If I google the dish in English, I get results with more and pretty clear jelly, ours isn’t like that. And we don’t put it into a rectangular shape on a plate, it should be in a stomach…

(KM) #8

You could always just use some lemon juice when making your gelatin. I know that’s not carnivore or 100% carb free, but it’s about 1 gram per tablespoon.

#9

My carnivore-ish allows lemon juice :smiley: (Lemon is one of the many reasons I have the -ish. Pure carnivore is unnecessarily restrictive to me, even temporarily.) It’s such a useful item sometimes. I typically only use very little anyway. Tasty, flavorful stuff.

(Fiddlestix H. McWhiskers) #10

I’m going to try making pork aspic from three pork shoulder bones I kept and have in my freezer that still have some pork scraps clinging to them. Just some salt, pepper and garlic powder and 10 hours or so in the slow cooker. I just need to find some kind of cheap molds to pour the results into.

(Central Florida Bob ) #11

Any kind of cake mold ought to do it, but I’ve never tried. Metal, not paper.

Hope that’s useful.

(Fiddlestix H. McWhiskers) #12

I made the pork aspic yesterday and tried it this morning. I must have done something terribly wrong. I can honestly say that it’s one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever tasted.
I shall try again.
I shan’t give up.

(KM) #13

Hard to imagine how that could have gone wrong! I often cook my stock (slow cooker) til it will gel when cooled, it’s usually pork bones. It takes a long time for the bones to give up their (?) collagen but I’ve never had a batch taste bad. :thinking:

#14

Oh my. Aspic is a big thing here and it’s lovely. We got 5 portions a few weeks ago from my SO’s Mom :heart: Just in plastic boxes. If it’s some kind of simple shaped vessel, you probably can pour it into it. I would use bowls but I never make aspic as I don’t cook anything for more than 1.5 hours a
People here use pork trotters and extra skin to make it, we have these aspic packages available in supermarkets when it’s total aspic season (it’s not now). The very basic one is only skin in the aspic, I need some meat with it! Very, very, very good if you ask me, surely not everyone likes the stuff…

(Fiddlestix H. McWhiskers) #15

@kib1
I started with three frozen pork shoulder bones from three past 10lb shoulders. I put them in a crock pot and it took 9 cups of water to cover them. I added a tsp each of salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. I slow cooked them on low for about 16 hours. I removed the bones, strained the liquid through cheesecloth and picked out the small bits of bones.

I did the freezer test on a spoonful, but it didn’t gel, so, instead of spending time reducing it, I bloomed and added some powdered beef gelatin I had on hand. I spread the pork bits on the bottom of a glass casserole dish, poured the liquid over the pork and left in the fridge overnight. It was firm in the morning, so I tried it and it was awful. I can’t even describe the flavor, and the texture of the pork was what I imagine water soaked pet kibble tastes like.

Too many people tell me they love making and eating it for me to think I could dislike something like that so much. I must have gone wrong with something at some point along the way.

#16

Something was very wrong then. Everything with bones becomes jelly for me. Rabbit stew, chicken soup, everything. Of course, they are softer than proper aspic, that needs very much skin beyond the bones. And that makes it tasty (for the ones who like that flavor) :slight_smile: And the little meat, of course but a traditional aspic here is mostly from pork skin as the aspic should be quite firm.
Our packages look like this, lots of skin:
image