Tap for spoiler
as a bulimic, I don’t think even I would eat this
For anyone wanting to use this as “those barbaric Europeans have the worst food” i have a bad news, very similar gelatin based dishes are also part of Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Nepali cuisines and the oldest mention of it is from medieval Mesopotamia.
Americans in the what? 50s? 60s? Were putting fucking EVERYTHING in God damned gelatin too. At least this has more variety then like, gelatin with freaking hot dogs in it. And they’d make the gelatin with the fucking hot dog water.
Yeah, meats in gelatine are…hm…not the greatest aspect of Eastern European food culture (though to be fair there are worse things you could eat…these gelatine dishes just tend to be somewhat bland). But you know this isn’t exclusive to Slavic cuisine. In the mid 20th century all sorts of gelatine dishes were fairly popular in the US and Western Europe as well.
I think it was popular for a while simply for the novelty. Easy access to gelatin and refrigeration was kind of new in the 50s.
Then people got over it because the novelty wore off, and without that it’s just a bland cold food.
I have no idea what could explain the continued popularity in Eastern Europe.
Easy access to gelatin and refrigeration was kind of new in the 50s.
It was partially a ploy by refrigeration companies to make the common ownership of newly-available refrigerators obvious and a point of pride/envy in suburban households.
weren’t they like a massive block of ice in a room back then
It’s the point where they stopped to be that, although the ice accumulated inside quickly so you could end with solid block of ice inside, and you had to defrost them often to prevent it.
The only true way to prepare those dishes is without (added) gelatin, only boiling the bones and cartilage until collagen dissolves.
It is vaguely similar to jellied eels in concept, by the way.
I heard the Mormons are still into jello dishes.
This is vanilla stuff. We have pig’s ears and hooves in jelly.
@OrnluWolfjarl@lemmygrad.ml not to mention the boiled chicken liver 🤮
You haven’t lived until you’ve had pickled squirrel
@OrnluWolfjarl@lemmygrad.ml I have not had the pleasure yet to try rodents :-O
Just to be clear, I was being ironic. My uncle is always harping about the good old days, when they had pickled squirrel.
@OrnluWolfjarl@lemmygrad.ml
minemy father told me the same about cat pie, during the years after civil war in Spain.Tough times. I’m not kidding neither
Man, I can just see the gelatine in how it’s cut. Some people commit this atrocity upon kholodets too, cause they can’t make it solidify the proper way.
I won’t take no shit about kholodets btw.

So, for the more…adventurous(?) comrades that might want to try kholodets, for example, avoid recepies with gelatine. Consistency just tends to be unpleasant, it gets vland, and it looks kinda like this picture.
If you pick the right bones(well, it’s hooves, because there is a lot of connective tissue in them) and make it without gelatine(it’s time-consuming), it’ll still make broth-jelly with meat, but it’ll melt very quickly in your mouth.
Savory, hearty stuff.
spoiler
Serve with pulverised hoseradish root on top, or you go to GULAG btw.
you can have it all to yourself, comrade…
Your loss.

i still remember the terrible disappointment when i found out head cheese was not in fact cheese at all
Poland fact: Catholic priest in Poland once used fresh headcheese to exorcise a demon of veganism. Then he embezzled 100 million PLN (around 25 million USD) from state fund although he probably did’t used headcheese for that.
Honestly, on a bit of bran toast and I bet this rocks
That’s an interesting idea, actually. I’m gonna try putting kholodets on toast, if I find the time to make some. I usually just shovel it right into myself with horseradish.
Shout out to all my peeps with sensory sensitivities who had to dodge these growing up.
Wait wait wait
You mean to tell me mormons appropriated this shit from poland???
I’ve gone through long periods of hunger in my life. Starved for so long as a child i got a malnutrition related cancer. Been so hungry as an adult I’ve resorted to stealing from supermarkets and begging. And i still don’t think I could bring myself to eat this. 🤢
What about this?

No thank you.
My great-grandaunt makes the best холодец. Sülze can also be nice.
What is this?
Chicken and some vegetables in a gelatinised broth. There are tons of variations since you can put basically everything in it, and this one looks actually good, i seen much worse. It’s often eaten with vinegar. Large amounts of vodka optional, but when served as small portion with two glasses of vodka (per person) it’s known as “lorneta z meduzą” (binoculars with jellyfish).
Why is it gelatinised? I think it would look a lot better in just hot broth.
Preservation and torturing children
Its like artificial selection to get rid of autistic kids. Sweet jello already bothers me, savory or fishy gelatin seems like a nightmare.
savory or fishy gelatin seems like a nightmare.
Don’t forget that it’s often eaten with spirit vinegar and optionally vodka. The fact that it absolutely turn your nose and mouth inside out is the point. Also worth remembering when someone accuse Polish cuisine of being bland lol.
All those versions do exist as a hot dish in broth too. Gelatinising turn entire thing into cold dish for more variety. Also, vodka.
One of the ways the Soviet Union used to torture Nazis in gulags until it was banned by the Geneva convention
Meanwhile in America

not to defend the yanks, but no one was eating this after the 1990’s
After the 1960s MAX, this concoction is the product of housewives on lithium and methamphetamines. Once women could legally leave the house? No one was eating like this lol
most likely true
collagen 👍yum
but at what cost? texture? flavour?













