Hello everyone I am JouJou in Canada
today I'm sharing my recipe of a crystal clear pork rind jelly aspic
it can be either served as cold dish or used as a filling in Chinese soup dumpling
there are two different methods of making it
One is that when stewing the cleaned pork rind leave the pot uncovered
supporters of this method say that it's the only way to make rind jelly crystal clear
there is another saying that as long as rind is thoroughly cleaned
the rind jelly can be stewed crystal clear with the pot covered
today I make a comparison test to see which method is better
I prepared a chunk of pork rind weighing 600 grams
larger piece of rind is easier to be cleaned
cut rind into large pieces so it's easier to parboil it in pot
using kitchen processer to cut not fully cooked pork rind may damage the machine
immerse rind in the pot filled with cold water
add few slices of ginger in water
bring water to boil then reduce to med heat and continue cooking for 10 minutes
after 10 minutes, remove pork rind and wash it with hot water
now start cleaning up the fat residue and dirt on the rind
remove fat with a knife and pull out hair with tweezers
use knife to scratch both sides of the rind
to further remove the fat and dirt on the pork rind
and then clean up the rind thoroughly in hot water
this is a piece of the cleaned pork rind
texture is very clear and it's translucent
now cut pork rind into strips
in order for the pork rind to release more collagen in a faster way in the process of stewing
washing the rind strips with hot water is recommended
cause pork rind expands in parboil process, the weight increases to 760 grams
divide rind into two even portions and stew them in two different methods to see which one is better
first I use lid-on method to stew the rind to jelly
add cold water 3.5 times the weight of pork rind in pot
pour rind strips into pot. add leek and slices of ginger
no vent hole on this lid
bring water to boil then reduce heat to min. continue stewing it for 90 minutes
keep water in pot in a constant gentle boil status
Turn off heat after 90 minutes. Open lid. Remove leek and ginger
there's no scum
scoop some soup and take a look
now use the lid-off method to stew pork rind jelly
the same as the lid-on method add pork rind, leek and ginger into pot filled with cold water
since water evaporates faster as the pot is uncovered
add water 5 times the weight of pork rind in pot
bring water to boil then reduce heat to min. continue stewing it for 90 minutes in gentle boil status
different from lid-on method, after half an hour a little scum appears on surface
skim scum lightly with a tablespoon
in an hour time mark, surface of the water falls way faster
and more scum appears
turn off heat when timing reaches 90 minutes. Remove leek and ginger
skim scum on the surface
the soup is very sticky and full of collagen
and the remaining amount of water in the pot is also neither more nor less
if too much water is left, the concentration of collagen is low and jelly is less elastic
if too little water is left, there will be too much rind in the jelly and jelly looks less transparent
the jelly made by two different methods are all done
let's compare to see which one is more transparent
this jelly soup is from the lid-on method
it does not look clear enough
add rind strips to jelly soup. let it cool down and store it in refrigerator
this jelly soup is from lid-off method
it looks very clear
if it's used as filling in soup dumpling, cool it to jelly and it's done
if for cold dish, add rind strips into the jelly soup to cool down
This is a comparison of jelly. Lid-off jelly is on the left
on the right side is the lid-on jelly
obviously the lid-off jelly is more transparent than lid-on jelly
take a closer look at the crystal clear jelly made by lid-off method
it's very elastic and tough
to be honest the result of this test can not be generalized
but if I do it later I'll choose the lid-off method to make crystal clear rind jelly anyway
thank you for watching. please subscribe to my channel. I'm JouJou in Canada
see you next time