Jellied meat can be stored in the refrigerator from 1 day to 3 months

In a refrigerator

It is necessary to keep jellied meat in a glass, enamel or ceramic container with a closed lid as far as possible from foods with a strong odor at a temperature not exceeding 10 degrees Celsius. According to SES standards, snacks prepared at home will be stored in the refrigerator:

• without additional products in the composition - 72 hours;
• with the addition of vegetables or herbs - 36 hours.

The expiration date of factory-made goods in a vacuum is indicated on the packaging. According to GOST, it should not exceed 10 days at a temperature of 0 to 6 degrees.

Jellied meat, prepared in large quantities, in winter, like cottage cheese, can be placed on the balcony. It is advisable that the outside temperature be around -5 degrees.

From meat

It is generally accepted that jellied meat should be prepared from the knuckle, pork legs and head. Such ingredients create a natural protective layer of frozen fat and eliminate the need to add gelatin to the composition. It is not recommended to remove this layer until consumption. Despite this, a snack made from beef or beef tongue is no less popular than from pork.

If all the rules are followed, the meat treat can remain in the refrigerator for up to 7 days.

However, it is better not to wait until the last day and eat the dish as soon as possible. Products in vacuum packaging must be consumed within the period specified by the manufacturer.

From fish

The main raw material for jellied fish is frozen fish. Fish aspic is more difficult to prepare than others, but the end result is an excellent holiday treat: pike perch is especially tasty.

The shelf life of the jelly is only 24 hours at a temperature of 0 to 8 degrees, so you should not make large reserves and prepare the snack for future use.

From poultry

Chicken jelly has the most delicate taste and is quite suitable as a dietary dish. Chicken or turkey appetizers are prepared faster than others and without adding gelatin.

The storage time for such a dish is identical to the time established for meat treats.

Depending on the ingredients

Most housewives like to add various vegetables to jellied meat during the cooking process. This helps to diversify the taste and appearance of the treat.

Unfortunately, this method is not the most successful for preparing large quantities of food. Sanpin states that carrots, greens or boiled eggs reduce the shelf life by 2 times. Adding fresh garlic or onions is also not recommended, since the strong aroma of the additive will prevent you from smelling the spoiled snack.

Grated horseradish helps to increase the shelf life by 2-3 days if it is evenly spread over the treat and the container is tightly closed with a lid.

Influence of ingredients on preservation

For the holiday, housewives decorate jellied meat by adding boiled carrots, fresh herbs, peas, and halves of chicken or quail eggs. This approach will make the dish more elegant, but will significantly reduce its shelf life. When using products that have not been subjected to heat treatment, the jelly will begin to deteriorate within 1-2 days.

• Adding garlic, onions and spices will not protect meat jelly from spoilage.
• Even the aromatic horseradish root, rich in phytoncides, is not able to extend the shelf life of your favorite jellied meat.

The listed ingredients are added only to enhance the taste, but do not affect the preservation. Table salt, which is a natural preservative, can extend the shelf life. With a low salt content, the jellied meat will begin to deteriorate faster. The main thing is not to oversalt the dish.

Do you know that…

Many people do not like the fat that accumulates on the surface of the frozen mass, so they try to remove it as soon as possible. But it protects the jelly from contact with air, which prolongs the shelf life of the jelly.

To learn how to properly prepare jellied meat, watch this video:

In the freezer

If the treat is being prepared for future use, it should be kept in the freezer.

When frozen, the snack remains fresh for up to 3 months.

It will be a big plus if the refrigerator has a blast freezing function, then the meat will freeze evenly and will not crystallize. They often write on forums that this method can preserve the product for up to 5–6 months. However, this statement is controversial, so you should not take risks and delay storage until the last day.

In order to return the original appearance and taste of the product after the procedure, you need to remove it from the freezer, bring it to a boil and cool it. Once frozen, the meat dish can also be used as a base for soup.

Repeated freezing is unacceptable.

Is it possible to freeze a meat dish and how to do it correctly

To store jellied meat for a longer period, it is recommended to use special techniques. At the same time, many, even experienced housewives, do not know whether jellied meat can be frozen. But this is an excellent option for maintaining the freshness of the product.

Meanwhile, modern houses and apartments very often have not only a large refrigerator with a traditional freezer, but also a special freezer. There is quite enough space there to place all the “large-scale” leftovers of jellied meat after some family celebration. But when storing aspic both in such a chamber and in the freezer of a regular refrigerator, you need to follow certain rules.

1. Jellied meat cannot be re-frozen.
2. A dish that is planned to be frozen should be prepared without garlic and onions, since their taste changes for the worse during this procedure.
3. Containers with the product should be small and always have tight-fitting lids. You can, in addition, cover the plastic container with additional cling film in 2-3 layers. This will protect the jellied meat from absorbing foreign odors.
4. After defrosting, consumption should be as quickly as possible; storing thawed jellied meat for a long time is not recommended.
5. It should be defrosted at room temperature.
6. Food will only retain its quality if there are no temperature fluctuations in the freezer.

If after defrosting you doubt the quality of the product, it is better to boil it again. After this, the broth can be poured into containers again and allowed to harden again. But such jellied meat can be stored for a very short time, even in the refrigerator.

Rice. 4 - Boil the jellied meat

In general, if freezing and thawing are done correctly, your jellied meat will be used anyway.

Shock freezing of the product

The faster the jellied meat is frozen, the better its quality and all consumer properties are preserved. This means that the best option for this product is super-fast, or so-called blast freezing. This is how, for example, all frozen food products that we buy in supermarkets are prepared.

Almost all modern refrigerators, and even more so freezers, have a similar option. With the standard freezing option, the product freezes gradually, starting from the outer layer. Only after some time is the inner layer affected.

With shock freezing, this process rapidly accelerates, and the product freezes almost instantly to the depths of the inner layer.

Rice. 5 – Frozen jellied meat

All three stages of blast freezing in a refrigerator or freezer occur within a very short time. If you manage to maintain the natural structure, then you will not feel any changes in taste

However, it is important that during storage there are no significant temperature fluctuations inside the unit

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Canning as a method of long-term storage of jellied meat

Home cooks don't just love to cook it during the holidays. They also make homemade preparations that allow you to enjoy the dish all year round. To preserve jellied meat, you can use standard traditional recipes.

Rice. 9 – Canned jellied meat

1. You will need pieces of meat, rich broth, bay leaves, and peppercorns.
2. You can cook them much less than for standard jellied meat. Bring the meat until half cooked.
3. After this, jars of meat and meat broth are sent for sterilization. It must last at least two hours.
4. Then the jars are rolled up and sent to any cool place.

Such canned meat in jelly can be stored for at least a year. You can take them out and put them on the table at any time. But, of course, such canned food is somewhat different from classic jellied meat.

Natural preservative

Gelatin cannot be used to create such preparations. The reason is that during sterilization, cans of meat are subjected to boiling for a long time. The gelling properties of gelatin are thereby destroyed, making it useless as a preservative. How do you ensure the safety of the dish in this situation?

In this case, individual parts of the meat carcass act as a natural preservative. You need to choose those that have a high collagen content. When cooked, it is released and acts as a gelling agent for canned food. Such parts can be, for example, pork and beef legs, bones, skin with a layer of fat, etc. This broth turns out to be very strong and rich.

Freezer storage

At the first stage of solidification, it is not recommended to freeze the dish, but to preserve it, you can use this method. The maximum temperature should not be lower than minus five degrees. In winter, the freezer is replaced by a cold balcony. The dish must not be allowed to freeze completely.

There are several simple rules for this storage method, but following them will keep the product fresh for a long time.

1. The container with jellied meat must be tightly closed. In this case, the temperature in the freezer is required to be constant. This will prevent the product from completely freezing.
2. This storage method extends the shelf life to three months. But the consistency changes significantly and the taste suffers.
3. If the jellied meat is taken out of the freezer and it begins to melt, then putting the product back is strictly prohibited. Repeated refrigeration will have a detrimental effect on the consistency and taste.

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The freezer allows you to preserve the dish for a long time. If there are no components in the jellied meat that provoke souring, then it remains fresh for up to six months.

How to revive jellied meat

Often pieces of jellied meat remain uneaten after a feast. They begin to melt and lose their shape. There is no point in refreezing the dish. It is necessary to collect the leftovers in one pan and put on fire. There is no need to bring the contents to a boil. It is enough to heat it up and cool it again. In a few hours the jellied meat will be ready to eat. This method is good for one time, it is not recommended to abuse it. The shelf life of digested jellied meat is no more than two days.

Jellied is essentially the same broth, so you can cook a delicious rich soup with it. It is prepared from pieces or product that has been in the freezer for a long time.