Polish Pork Aspic {Galareta z Nóżek; Zimne Nóżki; Zimne Nogi; Studzienina}

Anna

6 years ago

69 / 100

Polish Pork Aspic {Galareta z Nóżek; Zimne Nóżki; Zimne Nogi; Studzienina}

Galareta z nóżek [gah-lah-reh-tah z noo-gek], zimne nóżki [zyee-mneh noo-g-kee] or zimne nogi [zyee-mneh no-gee] are all terms describing one very traditional Polish dish. Galareta literally means “jello” but I don’t think that describes the dish accurately as most people think of jello as sweet (outside Poland, that is). Zimne nogi = cold feet! 😁 Also, very unconventional name for a dish. But I guess unconventional dish gets an unconventional name.

I’m sure you’ve noticed, that Poles are very inventive with stretching their food. We don’t only suspend pork in gelatin, we do it to chicken [my recipe here] and also fish [my recipe here], all of which I enjoy.

Both pork and chicken aspics are always made for Easter in my home, along with many other traditional Polish Easter dishes. Fresh sausage, liver pate, vegetable salad along with traditional Easter desserts will be prepared. Check out the EASTER section of my blog for a full spread of Easter recipes.

Polish Pork Aspic {Galareta z Nóżek; Zimne Nóżki; Zimne Nogi}

Yields: Two loaf pans
Prep Time: 4 hours + cooling

Ingredients

2 pigs feet (about 2 lbs / 1 kg)
About 2 lbs / 1 kg of raw ham hocks
8 cups / 2 liters of water
2-3 carrots
1 parsnip or parsley root
1/4 of a celery root
1 medium onion (burnt over gas burner or on a dry frying pan)
10 allspice and peppercorn seeds each
4-5 bay leaves
2 tsp of salt + 1/2 tsp of salt
4 garlic cloves, crushed + 5 garlic cloves minced
1 tsp of ground pepper
1/2 tsp of dried marjoram

Instructions

Wash all pork and place in a large stock pot with wa- ter, carrots, parsnip / parsley root, celery root, onion, peppercorns, allspice berries, bay leaves, 2 teaspoons of salt, and 4 crushed garlic cloves. Bring to boil, turn heat to low and simmer for 1 hour.
Take out vegetables and continue simmering for an- other 2–3 hours, or until meat is tender and falling off the bone.
After meat is cooked, remove it from stock and set aside until cool enough to manage.
In the meantime, strain stock, slice vegetables and mince garlic. Return sliced vegetables and add garlic, pepper, and marjoram to stock. Taste. Add a bit more salt, if needed.
Once meat has cooled off, take off the bone and re- move some of the fat. Slice meat, skin and return to stock.
Pour into containers. Cool at room temperature and then transfer to the fridge.
To serve, cut into thick slices.