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Calves' Feet Jelly

A gelatinous broth made by simmering calf's feet for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Calves' Feet Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the feet

  1. Slit the Calves' Feet in two and remove the fat between the claws.

  2. Wash the feet well in warm water and place them in a large stew-pan.

Simmer the stock

  1. Cover the feet with water and bring to a boil, skimming off any impurities.

  2. Reduce the heat and let it simmer gently for 6 to 7 hours until reduced to about 2 quarts.

  3. For best results, boil the Calves' Feet the day before making the jelly to allow the fat to solidify for easier removal.

Strain

  1. Strain the liquid through a sieve and skim off any oily substance from the surface.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Calves' feet
Their collagen-rich connective tissue dissolves during long simmering and sets into a firm jelly as it cools.
Water
Extracts gelatin from the feet and reduces down to form the liquid base of the jelly.

The step that matters

Simmer gently for 6 to 7 hours. A rolling boil can cloud the liquid and break up fat, while gentle simmering extracts gelatin slowly and cleanly. The liquid must reduce enough for the cooled stock to set firmly as a jelly.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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