Cooking stuffed meat

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Stuffed meat is a dish that traditionally adorns the festive table, at which a large company gathers. It is served hot or cold. As a main dish, boiled pork is served with a side dish. In the form of a cold snack, such meat replaces store-bought meat and sausage cuts.

What is stuffing

Meat stuffed has come into cooking since the Middle Ages. With the help of spices, bacon, vegetables, onions, garlic, roots, berries and fruits, it was possible to turn dry meat of wild game into a juicy, soft and appetizing dish: hare, deer, wild boar, elk.

For centuries, stuffing has remained a popular technique among culinary specialists who stuff not only dry meat (beef, rabbit, turkey, black grouse, hazel grouse, partridge, pheasant, capercaillie) to make it soft, but also fatty meat to improve taste qualities. This technique is also used to cook chicken, fish, even sausages and sausages. They stuff tomatoes, eggplants, zucchini, potatoes. For this, not only traditional products are used, but also exotic fruits.

Forcing is carried out in two ways:

• before heat treatment;
• before pickling.

Meat marinated with spices, garlic and herbs for hours, squirts juice and melts in your mouth.

A stuffed dish prepared according to all the rules turns into a real delicacy, it looks very bright and original, so it is often prepared for a festive table or receiving guests.

Forcing Rules

There are certain rules for preparing stuffed meat. Cooking technology requires adherence to basic principles.

Forcing should be carried out along the fibers. In this case, when cutting the finished dish across the fibers, neatly cut bars of vegetables and bacon will not fall out of the meat, but will become a decoration of its cut in the form of bright inclusions-cubes.

Forcing is carried out with a knife having a long and narrow blade. With its help, a deep puncture is made in the meat, then the knife is slightly scrolled, expanding the long recess made. Without taking out the knife, strips of bacon, garlic, carrots or other vegetables are pushed along its blade. To give the dish the greatest juiciness, punctures are made at a small distance from each other.

It is more convenient to do this culinary procedure not with a knife, but with special devices that easily pierce the thickness of the meat:

• shinger needle (stringing);
• chef's knife with round tip and serrated edge.

They are used in the same way asan ordinary kitchen knife: a piece of meat is pierced, products intended for stuffing are inserted into the cuts formed.

Main ingredients

The main ingredients in cooking stuffed meat are:

1. Meat itself. Usually, its weight varies from 0.5 to 1.5 kg.
2. Shpik. Salo is needed if the meat is dry. If it is already fat and juicy in itself, you can do without this component.
3. Vegetables. The choice of this product is determined by the chef himself. It is important to remember that this ingredient should give the dish juiciness and brightness, enrich the taste. That is why carrots are commonly used. Its bright orange color looks very elegant.
4. Garlic gives the dish a special flavor. It is used for stuffing, cutting into narrow slices.
5. Spices. They can be added to taste, taking into account the preferences of the cook and the guests for whom the dish is being prepared. Commonly used Provence herbs, thyme, basil, oregano, pepper, paprika. You can use improvised means from your garden: cherry or horseradish leaves. You can not use spices, limiting yourself to s alt or soy sauce.

For better impregnation and cooking, the thickness of the meat should be no more than 8-10 cm.

Cooking nuances

Meat stuffed with carrots is prepared from fillet, tenderloin, brisket on ribs. A piece must be solid, convenient for stuffing and subsequent cutting of the finished dish.

Meat can be cooked directly according to the recipe orpre-marinate.

For pickling, a piece of meat is rubbed with spices and s alt/soy sauce, placed in an enamel or glass dish, covered with cling film on top to prevent the meat from weathering, put in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours.

There are several nuances that facilitate the cooking process, giving the dish a special delicacy:

1. If the fat used for stuffing is slightly frozen, it will be easier to enter into the flesh of the meat.
2. Lard should be cut into narrow bars along the fibers, after removing the skin from it.
3. The meat must be handled very carefully, trying not to damage the fibers unnecessarily, as in this case the flesh loses its juiciness and becomes dry.

There are several ways to cook stuffed meat. It can be fried, stewed and baked.

Let's take a look at how to prepare a delicious juicy delicacy with and without pre-frying.

Recipe 1: Cooking in the oven

Ingredients:

• 0.8 kg beef (fillet or whole cut);
• 0, 2 kg bacon;
• 1-2 pcs carrots;
• s alt or soy sauce;
• spices.

A piece of meat must be thoroughly washed, cut off the film, dry with a towel.

Make multiple punctures along the fibers, push the bacon and carrots into them, alternating.

Grate the semi-finished product with s alt and spices, leave for 30 minutes.

Put the semi-finished meat on a red-hot and lightly greasedfat frying pan, fry until characteristic brownish-ruddy crust.

Put the piece of meat into a dish with high and thick-walled edges (baking pan with sides, high pan, goose stew).

Pour 1 glass of water into the pan in which the meat was fried, bring to a boil, then add the resulting fragrant liquid to the meat, put it in the oven, heated to 180-200 °C.

Forced meat in the oven should languish for 30-40 minutes. Every 10 minutes, pull out the baking sheet and pour over the meat with the juice flowing down.

The readiness of the dish is checked with a fork or a knife with a narrow blade. The meat is considered ready if no blood comes out of it. If necessary, increase the cooking time.

You can cook meat in the oven by wrapping it in foil or placing it in a baking bag.

Recipe 2: cook on the stove

Another recipe for stuffed meat makes it possible to cook this dish without using the oven.

Ingredients:

• 1–1, 2 kg pork;
• 1-2 pcs carrots;
• 1 parsley root;
• 1-2 pcs onion;
• s alt.

Rinse the meat, cut off excess fat, dry with a towel, stuff with chopped raw carrot sticks and parsley root along the fibers.

Put the prepared meat into boiling water (1 liter of water per 1 kg of meat), bring to a boil, s alt (1/2 portion of s alt), close the lid, cook for 30 minutes at a low boil.

Onionpeel, cut into half rings, stew for 5-6 minutes in butter with the addition of broth or water, add tomato paste, hold on fire for 3-5 minutes.

Put the boiled meat in a whole piece in a bowl with high sides, pour in the broth or water so that the meat is half covered with liquid, add the stewed onion with tomato paste, then simmer over low heat until fully cooked, for 10 minutes before the end of cooking, add the remaining s alt. Remove the cooked meat from the broth, cool to 12 ° C, cut into portions across the grain.

From the broth left after stewing, prepare the sauce: strain the broth, add dried flour to it, boil for 15-20 minutes, add the grated onion boiled while stewing, bring to a boil.

Place portions of meat in a bowl, pour sauce, add finely chopped garlic, bring to a boil, add bay leaf, black peppercorns, hold on low heat for 5-7 minutes, cool without removing from the broth.

Before serving, remove from the broth, dry the meat, serve with the sauce in which it was stewed.

How to serve?

If stuffed meat should decorate the table as a cold appetizer, it is advisable to cook it the day before so that the finished dish lies in the refrigerator for a day, soaking in juice and acquiring a special softness and aroma. The meat is laid out in portions on lettuce leaves, decorated with herbs and fresh vegetables.

If stuffed meat is used in hotform, served as a side dish:

• boiled pasta;
• boiled potatoes: whole or mashed;
• boiled vegetables seasoned with or stewed with butter;
• stewed cabbage or beets.

The temperature of the meat served with the side dish must be above 65 °C.