Recipe of the week: Hungarian ‘kocsonya’ or aspic

The aspic is a traditional cold food found in the kitchen of almost all European countries in some form. Usually, it is either a side dish or an appetizer, but we Hungarians eat it as a main dish, usually in winter, around the holidays, such as Christmas or New Year’s Eve. It is also interesting that every family has its own little tradition on how they make it. Some people use the most traditional recipe: they put pork feet or nails, pork skin and other soft parts of the pork into it, while others put lean meat into it before it jellifies.

You would not think, but the ‘kocsonya’ has some health benefits as well. The fats in the dish are rich in amino acids and the high lysine content can strengthen the immune system. It is also good for your skin and nails, because thanks to its C-vitamin content, it helps the absorption and production of collagen.

Here are two other recipes for the holidays. A famous Hungarian dessert, the Snow Crescents, and the Hungarian Stuffed Cabbage loved by many Hungarian families.

Ingredients:

These ingredients are for 10 servings but do not worry, it is easier to make it more delicious if you make a large batch. And it will disappear in no time because it is that delicious.

5 litres of water, 400 grams of pig trotters (approx. 3 pieces, or the same amount of pig ears or tail), 300 grams of pigskin, 700 grams of pork leg, 500 grams of thin pork thigh, 200 grams of smoked pork shoulder, salt to liking, 2 coffee spoons of whole peppers, 2 pieces of medium cherry pepper, 1 deciliter of tomato juice, 2 medium garlics (taken apart to cloves), 1 boiled egg for decorating

Directions:

We take the first seven ingredients and slowly bring them to boil, take off the froth (foam) with a strainer. After this, put in the whole peppers, the cherry peppers, the tomato juice and the cloves of garlic.

Lower the heat and simmer slowly just so that the water beads (like with a meat soup), for 4-5 hours.