And my five cents in this topic
I think this material will be useful for you and informative
GELATIN
From the website
🔗What do we know about how to use gelatin correctly? We know that gelatin should never be boiled!
Why? Its gelling properties are impaired. Or - it's scary to say! - completely disappear! Why else? Jelly may become cloudy.
Interesting interesting....
Why do the gelling properties disappear?
But no one explains this anywhere! There is no such thing in any cookbook.
And there can be no explanation for this.
Because this is another culinary myth.
And I can now prove it, because I made a simple but objective experiment. But first about what kind of gelatin is on sale.
one.Gelatin differs in the type of raw material from which it is obtained.
There is gelatin of meat origin and fish.
Fish gelatin is more expensive because the manufacturing process is more complicated.
In addition, fish gelatin is less soluble in water.
2. Gelatin varies in degree of purification, which affects its solubility and gelling properties.
The purer the gelatin, the higher its gelling properties and the faster it dissolves even at lower temperatures.
3. Gelatin varies in shape - there are sheets, granules and powder.
Professional chefs prefer to work with gelatin sheets for its ease of use.
One sheet of gelatin weighs 4 grams, which greatly facilitates the calculation of the required amount and provides greater accuracy. In addition, there is no need to worry about the exact amount of liquid to soak - the sheets will only absorb the required amount for swelling. In addition, sheet gelatin has markings for the strength of the jelly that forms, which is very important if complex, artistic desserts are created from jelly. At home, all this is not essential and you can safely use powdered gelatin.
Moreover, you can buy sheet gelatin in Israel only in specialized stores such as "Mister Cake", etc., since sheet gelatin is made from pork skin.
Task: to find out what exactly happens to the jelly if the gelatin is boiled? Given:
1. Apple juice - 2 glasses.
2. 2 types of powdered gelatin - fish and meat, 7 g each (1/2 sachet).
Actions:
1. Since fish gelatin is less soluble, it must be pre-soaked - this is written on the label.
She poured 1 glass of juice, poured gelatin on top, set it to swell. By the way,
this is important - gelatin is always added to the liquid, and not vice versa! Otherwise, it sticks together into lumps, which may remain even after heating.2. Meat gelatin did not require pre-soaking, the box was instructed to pour the bag into 1 tbsp. liquid, bring to a boil and boil for 1-2 minutes.
I poured it in, stirred it, put it on the fire, cooked it for 2 minutes over very low heat, poured 1/2 cup into cup number 1.
3. The remaining 1/2 cup was boiled over high heat for about 5 minutes. The mixture boiled and boiled in half. Poured into cup number two.
4. The fish gelatin, while stirring, warmed up without boiling, up to 60-70C (according to the instructions on the label), until the gelatin dissolved. Poured 1/2 cup into cup number 3.
5. The remaining fish gelatin brought to a boil, cooked for 5 minutes, poured into cup number 4.
6. Put the cups in the refrigerator for 3 hours.
7. Put the jelly on the plates.
Result:
- the jelly turned out in 3 cups (1,3,4) equally stable - where I did not boil gelatin, but in one cup, number 2 is not just stable, but steep, the picture shows how it clearly repeats the shape of the bottom! the jelly turned out to be transparent even when there was a violent boil
Conclusions:
- gelatin can be boiled
- jelly does not grow cloudy from violent boilingHowever, where did the myth come from and why is it so tenacious?
But there is an explanation for this!
You can boil gelatin, but not in all cases you need to do this, it all depends on what is being prepared with it and how.
1. At a high concentration of gelatin in the liquid, it cannot be boiled!
For example, for cold cheesecakes or to stabilize cream, gelatin is diluted in a little water or milk and then mixed with curd or cream.
In this case, it cannot be heated longer than required for complete dissolution.
With a small volume of liquid, the solution turns out to be thick and viscous, therefore, with prolonged and strong heating, the jelly quickly thickens, lumps form, gelatin can generally burn and it will have an unpleasant aftertaste.
However, if you gape and the jelly is heated to a boil, nothing bad will happen, the jelly will work out, you don't need to pour it out and start all over again.
2. With a low concentration of gelatin in the liquid, you can boil it!
If the jelly is made from juice, fruit puree or broth, then in this case the gelatin is added to a large amount of liquid and it can be heated for a long time, at the boiling point, but you should take into account the fact that the liquid will boil down, so the concentration of gelatin will increase. Excessive concentration can negatively affect the taste, making the jelly too dense, and the flavor of the gelatin is more distinct. However, if the recipe says: cook - you can do it boldly, there is no mistake in the recipe.
3. Jelly can become cloudy from strong boiling if it is prepared from raw materials of animal origin!If the jelly is prepared from fish or meat broth, it must be boiled like a broth - with a barely noticeable boil, otherwise it will become cloudy. But it is not gelatin that grows cloudy - the broth itself! Therefore, it can be clarified at the end of cooking in the same way as broth without gelatin is clarified.
Fish gelatin is preferable to meat. The experiment showed that under equal starting conditions, the jelly turned out to be much tastier! I conducted an independent experiment on volunteers, not trusting my own feelings, but everyone pointed to the cups of jelly on fish gelatin as more delicious!
To calculate the required amount of gelatin I take advice from the book "Desserts" (series "Good cuisine"):
"If you want a stable, shapeless jelly, take 15 grams of gelatin for every 0.6 liters of liquid, then the jelly will support its own weight.
If the jelly is served in a mold, you can reduce the amount of gelatin by 15-20%. "
By the way, that is why gelatin is packaged in sachets of 14 grams - 1 sachet is designed for 500 ml of liquid.
But if we are talking about other raw materials - proteins, cottage cheese - the ratio may be different. be guided by the recipe and your own experience! This calculation is correct for making jelly from liquid - water / juice. When thick or semi-liquid mixtures are gelled, gelatin works differently and here the proportions sometimes have to be selected empirically.
For example, my experience asserts that for a cold curd cake of 500 g of cottage cheese + 200 g of sugar + 500 ml of heavy cream (= 1200 g), 20 g of gelatin is quite enough, since the curd and cream already form a fairly stable structure (cold, of course).
In order to introduce gelatin evenly into the mixture to be gelled, the temperature must be equalized if possible. The mixture to be gelled d. B. room temperature. A small part of it must be added to the gelatin, stir thoroughly, and then, with continuous whipping or stirring, the gelatin mixture is poured into the gelatinous mixture. I repeat - all this applies only to those cases when cream / soufflé is gelled.
Helpful advice from Irma Rombauer ("The Culinary Bible")
Some fruits contain enzymes that break down collagen, so the jelly from juice or puree with such fruits does not freeze (kiwi, pineapple, lemon). But if you boil the juice of these fruits, the enzymes break down and the jelly hardens.
Advice from Israeli chief Eran Schwarzbard:
for each gram of powdered gelatin for soaking, you should take 5 grams (so in the text!) of water, excess liquid affects the quality of the jelly.
Can gelatin be frozen?Can. But you shouldn't do this, especially if the jelly is transparent!
Gelatin does not lose its gelling properties.
But the jelly as a result of freezing becomes cloudy and becomes loose, since the water particles expanding and destroy its structure.
