Use for gelatin?
Whenever I get inspired to do make something new, a little voice in my head tells me to use up the random things in our pantry. On a whim someone bought gelatin, both flavored (lime, cherry, strawberry) and non-flavored.
Is there something cool I can do with it?
Inspired by the recent cream puff post, I considered something mousse-like?
Any suggestions?
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23 Comments:
When I was a line cook, a couple of us got another line cook's vegetable peeler and encased it in triple-stregnth gelatin (much like Jim's prank on Dwight on The Office). The guy was stunned. He had to cut it out.
beth1 at 12:36AM on 01/30/09
There have to be a million and one recipe ideas for the flavored gelatins. Just google Jello.
The crowd I often feed likes it when I mix a flavored gelatin (usually a red or orange) with hot water, orange juice and melted vanilla ice cream. Mix it fast and pour into a deep mold. It separates into 2 layers and is pretty good.
For the unflavored....Panna cotta, mousses, no-bake cheesecakes, fruit juice gelatins, chocolate gelatin, bavarians, etc.
I like using unflavored as a peel-off face mask. I love it.
sadiepix at 12:59AM on 01/30/09
Not a big fan of Jello, personally, but if you want to do something fun, you can bake a cake (white or yellow), poke holes in it, pour the warm gelatin over, and you're set. You get a pretty striped effect, and the idea is old enough that you can call it a retro recipe. And even folks that don't like Jello on its own (like me) will probably like the cake.
Or for something slightly more adult, make Jello shooters.
As far as the unflavored, you can use it as a stabilizer in whipped desserts. There are probably other uses, but it's all I can think of at the moment.
dbcurrie at 1:06AM on 01/30/09
Well, you can use the unflavored gelatin to make almond tofu. :P
I'll need to root around online to find a recipe for a dish I used to eat a lot at parties while growing up that had a mousse component.
If you run out of ways to use the unflavored gelatin, you can use it they way I used it in high school. Prep it in the pot normally, let it cool a little, and use it on your hair. :P I used to spike my mohawk with that back in the day (yeesh...over 25 years ago). It is the strongest hair gel I've ever come across.
Cassaendra at 7:39AM on 01/30/09
Take it to the pot luck you go to! I once many years ago was in charge of a holiday dinner at a church I used to attend, (even taught vbs too) everyone was supposed to bring a dish and I just had to fix the main entree for the meal, this was for about 150 ppl give or take. I freaked out when by the time the service started all I had were 60 Jello molds clogging the fridge, and two bags of chips. But I learned very quickly how to feed 150 ppl in 2 hrs, thankfully the grocery store was litterlaly next door. Dinner Impossible aint got nothing on me ;-)
huneybumper at 8:27AM on 01/30/09
The non flavored gelatin is good for meatloaf you don't need the whole package just a tsp will do....
Markbb at 9:26AM on 01/30/09
You can use the unflavored jello for a mohawk, liberty spikes, or dreadlocks.
bobbob at 10:16AM on 01/30/09
Gelatin is awesome stuff. The unflavored kind I mean. It has a huge array of uses. This is one of my favorites:
http://www.gourmet.com/recipes/diaryofafoodie/2008/02/virtualeggs
Gelatin can be used to clarify any liquid, I've done it a few times and it's really awesome:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/dining/05curi.html?ref=dining
Download this:
http://khymos.org/recipe-collection.php
There is a whole section on gelatin recipes in there. Great stuff. Basically, it's a hydrocolloid, which is a very powerful texturing agent. You can do all kinds of stuff with it. Check out these links, and you'll have TONS of ideas on what to do with it.
simon at 10:29AM on 01/30/09
Use the unflavored to make panna cotta, you will be happy you did. As for the flavored, my husband's family has a recipe for something they call jello dessert. Now this recipe uses some of the "dirty word" ingredients here on SE; ie. jello(both lemon and lime) and cool whip. Now if you are not against these things let me know and I will share. I have to say it is very tasty.
LizSherman at 10:44AM on 01/30/09
@LizSherman - I'm not the original poster, but jello and cool whip are definitely not dirty words in my book! I'd love to have the recipe :)
caramel at 10:58AM on 01/30/09
Ahh...memories of stopping in at Woolworth's for lunch. Lime Jello and Reddiwhip for dessert. :)
Cassaendra at 12:07PM on 01/30/09
Two things come to mind:
1. Marshmallows for the unflavoured gelatin.
2. Shooters. Vodka goes well with every flavour but you could experiment. Peach Schnapps and orange Jello, lime with tequila, etc. Of course, you might pass out fairly quickly.
CanadianFoodieGirl at 1:03PM on 01/30/09
Reminds me of my freshman year in college when we wanted to make jello shots, and I thought it would be fun to do it with ever clear. More booze you know? How could it go wrong? Well, the jello didn't have enough gelling power for that much alcohol, so they didn't set, we had a huge batch of half gelled jello slime. Needless to say, we consumed it all anyway. I'd like to believe it was a fun night but I don't remember much of it, other than wrestling with a large piece of blue shag carpet that I somehow got into an argument with.
simon at 1:36PM on 01/30/09
Make marshmallows with the unflavored geletin! I made some peppermint ones at Christmas, and they were amazing (if I do say so myself). I ate so many that I had to winnow the list of people I had planned to give them to.
I used this recipe, and added a little peppermint extract and red food coloring.
http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/106/Marshmallows
Kiwords at 2:21PM on 01/30/09
Thanks for all your responses!
what would happen if I used flavored gelatins in place of unflavored? (i.e. in a panna cotta) Would the extra sugar do weird things to it?
I might just experiment with things and see what happens. :)
engmcmuffin at 2:29PM on 01/30/09
@simon, is that blue shag carpeting as tough as I hear? I can vouch for grass being a booger to argue with ;-)
huneybumper at 2:32PM on 01/30/09
@huney - I think the carpet won
simon at 5:49PM on 01/30/09
Yeah, don't try to use the flavored gelatins in something basic like panna cotta. The flavors and extra sugar and chemicals will make it not work. It does NOT transfer out teaspoon for teaspoon AT ALL.
You can make creamy desserts with the flavored jello just fine, but don't try it on one that calls for plain unflavored. It just behaves differently.
Plus who would want to ruin a nice panna cotta with jello?? ew. :D
The stuff is fun to experiment with though! Have a ball!
sadiepix at 8:46PM on 01/30/09
@caramel- We call this simply Jello Dessert and it's been a favorite of my husband's faily since he was a kid.
Crust- 1/2 C butter, melted
6 oz chopped pecans
1/4 C brown sugar
1 C flour
Press into 9x13 pan. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes
Lemon Layer-
1 3oz box lemon jello dissolved in 1 C boiling water; Cool to room temp
Blend
8 oz cream cheese, softened
3/4 C white sugar
Add cooled jello mixture and mix well
Add 8oz Cool whip, thawed
Spread on crust and refrigerate over night
Lime Layer-
Dissolve 6 oz lime jello in 2 C boiling water
Stir for 2 minutes then add 1 C cold water
Let cool to room temp
Pour over lemon-cheese layer and refrigerate until set(do not cover)
LizSherman at 10:14AM on 01/31/09
Flavored gelatin when it's thickened some - a little more than syrupy but not wildly lumpy - can be beaten with an electric mixer and fluffs up just like a mousse. No additional ingredients needed, but it's a starting place, perhaps, for other things?
lemons at 10:28AM on 01/31/09
With unflavoured - tuna mousse (or salmon, for that matter). I don't even like tinned tuna, but I love, love, love tuna mousse! Of course, it doesn't have to be tinned, it can be tuna poached in olive oil or something like that, but tinned works just fine.
brooke29 at 11:49AM on 01/31/09
Flavored Jell-O = Hospital food.
Unflavored gelatin is great for Bavarian creams or stabilized whipped cream.
Try this Bavarian sometime...I used it to fill a 2 tiered cake but you can use it for other desserts.
Walnut Sour Cream Bavarian
2.5 lbs. Sour cream
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1 pkg. Unflavored gelatine
1/4 cup water (for melting gelatine)
3 cups chopped walnuts
In KitchenAid, whip sour cream (with balloon whisk attachment) about 2 minutes. Add brown sugar, cinnamon and whip to combine. Prepare gelatine.
Put water up to boil, add gelatine, lower heat and stir to dissolve.
This is best done quickly…Pour all of gelatine mixture into sour cream mixture and immediately switch the KitchenAid on high. Combine about a minute, stop mixer, remove balloon whip and fold in walnuts. Refrigerate for 45 minutes to an hour, until set.
therealchiffonade at 1:59PM on 02/01/09
My grandmother used to make something with gelatin called "paradise pudding". You freeze a can of evaporated milk in a largeish container and mix up a pack of any flavored gelatin let it sit only until it has set up thick and syrupy but not completely harden. Take a hand mixer and start fluffing up the frozen evaporated milk. Slowly add the syrupy gelatin into the evaporated milk and continue mixing. Put it in the fridge and let the gelatin set up the rest of the way. It is a very tasty moussey type dessert. This works really well with sugar free gelatin for a relatively low sugar/fat/etc dessert that is actually tasty!
harastar at 8:33PM on 03/04/09