How To Do Meat Jelly/Aspic. Sült

Aspic or Meat jelly is a savoury jelly made from meat.

Meat Jelly, Sült is a very good example, how time changes the meaning of some food. In old times Sült was wintertime food. Because it takes 4-6 hours to cook it and this will heat up the kitchen. Because in old times for winter was left only pork legs and heads, which are suitable for cooking Sült. It was “poor” food. And food for the poor. Today all ladies know, how important is collagen…:)

Today, for me, this is a perfect summer dish. Sült is served cold and with cold cottage cheese sauce and boiled fresh potatoes.. yummy 🙂

Sült is a dish traditionally made from a mixture of meat, trotters, hocks, rind and other ingredients that have been cooked for several hours and cooled afterwards, forming a jelly. A traditional Christmas and wedding food served as an appetizer or as a meal itself.

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Meat Jelly. Sült

My father still cooking Sült himself. It is very complicated to cook  Sült only for 2 persons and still you need a very large pot. So, I buy Sült in summer time from culinary.  And in winter time, I get it from my father. This is my father recipe.

For cooking Sült you need glue-rich meat.

For example:

  • veal legs, pig-, sheep- and rabbit meat
  • pork legs, beef-, veal-and reindeer meat
  • rind and about the same amount of beef, lamb or chicken
  • lamb legs, pork back legs, young beef
  • pork head, pork legs and veal meat

And for cooking  Sült you need large pot and lot of time, to let Sült simmer.

Meat Jelly. Sült

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

A Estonian traditional Meat Jelly Sült

Ingredients

  • 1 big pork back leg ( ca 1 kg) or a mix of other meats (look at on the top)
  • 1 onion
  • 1 carrot
  • 5 black peppercorn, 3 spice corn, 1 bay leaf, salt

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Meat jelly. Sült

Directions

    Remember:
    • during boiling evaporating at least half of the water. Do not add additional water during boiling. If it necessary, add only BOILING water
    • to get the right taste to add salt at the end of cooking
    • meat must be fresh. Do not use frozen and melted meat.
    • young animals bones contain more glue/collagen. Sült congeals better
    • to get clear Sült, remove foam very carefully. And do not boil. Sült must just simmer.
    • unpeeled onion and carrot give colour. So, you can leave them off. Or on the contrary, add more vegetables (celery, peas), and fill 1/3 of set bowl bottom with vegetables.
    • do not remove fat. It helps prolong shelf-life.
    • you can keep Sült in cold freezer. If necessary, boil frozen Sült again, and let set again before eating.
  1. Wash the meat and put it in cold water ( ca 3 -4 litre) and bring it into the boil
  2. The water must cover the meat.
  3. When the water has boiled. Skim off the foam
  4. Let it simmer under half covered lid for 2-3 hours at a low temperature.
  5. Add unpeeled onion and carrot.
  6. Simmer at a low temperature until meat comes off the bone.
    7. Add salt and spices. NB! Hot Sült must be “too salty” because the taste becomes much weaker when the meal is cool.
  7. Remove carrot and onion. Take the meat from the broth and drain. Chop meat into pieces.
  8. Drain the broth and put the meat back. Bring in to the boil.
  9. Dip forms/dishes into the cold water, Put on the bottom some peeled carrot slices (just for beauty), meat and then broth.
  10. Put bowls to set in a cool place

    11. Serve with hot boiled potatoes, mustard, vinegar or horseradish.

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    Meat Jelly/Aspic. Sült http://www.estoniancuisine.com

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14 thoughts on “How To Do Meat Jelly/Aspic. Sült”

  1. When I lived in Germany, I would eat Suelze for lunch sometimes. It would be served with fried potatoes. What an excellent lunch! This is the same dish, and even the name is the same! I am home sick for my adopted country, and now I find that maybe I have another adopted country! Maybe someday I will be lucky enough to visit Estonia!

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  3. My grandmother used to make a similar dish in Romania called piftie. I used to like it a lot, but I think I haven’t had that in more than 15 years. Makes my mouth water!

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  4. I love to hear about old traditional recipes like this. My grandparents told me this used to be made on the farm by my great grandparents when they settled in Iowa. They made head cheese, too, mentioned above. The head of a hog was boiled just like this.

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      1. Oh and I forgot, the meat from the head is then pressed into a “loaf” and then the gellied aspic is poured around it. It can be sliced. It is sometimes sold in stores as lunch meat in packets, but has gone out of fashion. Of course, it was considered a “poor” food.

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  5. I have been looking for the recipe for this! My grandmother would make it (calling it Suelze, but spelling it Sült. She would mold it with beautiful flower patterns made from carrots and hard boiled eggs. Later, my mother would do it, but I never made it. Can’t wait to do it – I was recently in Estonia and couldn’t find it to eat. I had not had it since my mom died years ago.

    I came for the bread and now am totally hooked on the recipes. FYI – I’m also a camera operator and your photography is fantastic.

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