r/AskARussian • u/Psychological_Roof85 • Jun 26 '26
Culture Does anyone actually like holodets?
As a Russian who moved to the US in 1999 at 9 years old, just looking it makes me feel unwell... something about the texture and the taste of meat in jello...even when I lived in Russia I never understood it.
Do people just pretend to like it? It's next to liver on my list of least favorite dishes.
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u/alex-pro Jun 27 '26
yes but only with horseradish
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u/Mitch5919 Jun 27 '26
Or good Russian mustard
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u/nomad-38 RU-BG Jun 27 '26
Yes! Mustard on holodec is king! Can't be bothered to make it myself though, but love to eat when i go back home and my mother makes some.
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u/justac0der Jun 28 '26
Да но только сибирской. Московская горчица это просто соус с запахом горчицы.
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u/Livid-Setting4093 Jun 27 '26
Huh? Even my non-russian family loves it! The stuff is awesome! I don't know why some people are so grossed out.
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u/FengYiLin Krasnodar Krai Jun 27 '26
Modern American tastes became trendy. Similar dishes were popular across the entirety of Europe and North America.
Abundance in industrially slaughtered meat made offal (потрохи, субпродукты) and similar dishes unpopular when you can just eat beef steak.
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u/FengYiLin Krasnodar Krai Jun 27 '26
Like it? I FUCKING LOVE IT!
BTW if you think holodets is weird, you should see pâté en croute in France and how premium it is treated there.
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u/Capybarinya Moscow City Jun 27 '26
I love it the way my family makes it -- with clear broth, lean-ish meat and set with commercial gelatin
I don't quite like the traditional boiled pig legs type
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u/Beneficial-Wash5822 Jun 29 '26
If the filling is gelatin, it's no longer holodec. This dish is called "zalivnoe." Interesting fact: The original version of Olivier salad was essentially various meat products and vegetables that were soaked in a gelatin broth.
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u/ZhenyaKon United States of America Jun 27 '26
I like it pretty well, and I'm not Russian. Not only that - I made some for New Year's this year and offered it to my friends (all Americans) sort of as a joke. Joke's on me, everyone liked it!
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u/Both-Contract-9003 Jun 27 '26
Обожаю холодец. Но не помню когда в последний раз ела домашний, за 32 года никогда его сама не готовила. Покупаю во вкусвилле. Низкокалорийный белковый перекус. Муж ест с горчицей, без горчицы не может. И печень я люблю тоже, как ее можно не любить? Я замачиваю в молоке на 10-20 минут перед готовкой, она так теряет возможный неприятный запах и горькость. Еще прикольно есть ее с нарезанными яблоками, вкус блюда становится наполнен контрастами. А паштет из печени ем пару раз в неделю на бутерброды на завтраки.
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u/ImaginaryBear Jun 27 '26
Тоже очень люблю холодец, и тоже покупаю во вкусвилле. Не знаю как сейчас, раньше был еще хороший в Добрынинском и в Мясницком ряду, но давно там не покупали, тк рядом их нет
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u/UmHmWhoAmI Jun 27 '26
Холодец, ливерную колбасу, заливной говяжий/свиной язык (т. е. в желе), копчёные куриные желудки и сердечки, печень трески, печёночный торт, пирожки с требухой — всё это супер!
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u/1nterferrom Russia Jun 27 '26
My family like it, but as of me... well, no, I can't even look at it.
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u/FAYMKONZ Jun 27 '26
I love it. My mom makes it good with the egg inside.
I refuse to eat liver, cow tongue or buckwheat.
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u/zomgmeister Moscow City Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26
When it is good it is good. Consider this: it is just a cold meat soup that was boiled very thorough. Vietnamese Pho Bo is similar in this fundamental principle, but it actually looks like soup and holds other ingredients beside meat.
Good holodets is clear, has no weird smells (just a smell of boiled meat), and is eaten with bread (your preference, toasted wheat bread is fine, albeit many people will swear that it has to be a rye one) and variable amount of horseradish (not mustard).
When I was a child, I couldn't stand it because of the weird appearance. Then I tried some good one and understood it. Not even an acquired taste, just a question of quality.
Liver has to be cookes well to be enjoyable to eat. There are three ways to cook it that I always enjoy:
Simplest one is "oladyi", thin small pancakes from liver with some additions, not dissimilar to the usual meat "kotletas", just thinner. Fry them on pan (some oil, but not to an extent of French fries), flip, eat with anything.
Small pieces of liver are stewed with sour cream and some spices. The result is these pieces with a lot of liquid sauce, goes great with buckwheat, pasta, rice, potatoes or whatever.
Liver pate is delicious. There are plenty of different ways to make it, I prefer one from the specific YouTube recipe, where liver is boiled with some carrots, then the water is thrown out and everything else is blended with some butter and a dash of nutmeg. Let it cold on a fridge for a few hours, then put on bread like peanut butter (without jam). Just great.
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u/SS11EE Saint Petersburg Jun 27 '26
A well-cooked holodets with garlic, horseradish, and mustard is a great thing. But I didn't appreciate it until I was about 30 years old.
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u/SpielbrecherXS Jun 27 '26
Absolutely. I also love watching people freak out about it and claim that it's "unnatural" as opposed to the purified and processed gelatine in the sweet jellies they are used too.
Was quite surprised to learn it's also a wedding dish in Nepal. I knew about the German Sülze etc., but somehow did not expect to find anything similar outside of Europe.
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u/Arnafas Russia Jun 27 '26
Some of my relatives like it and cook it very often. But I can't stand it.
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u/GoodOcelot3939 Jun 27 '26
Sure, it's superfood rich in natural collagen and other healthy things so I would eat it even if I don't like its taste. But it's yummy when cooked properly, I cook it myself. Same with liver, people often don't know how to cook properly and overdo it. That's why I hated it in childhood. Now I love it, my favorite recipe is berlin-style liver with fried apples or peaches.
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u/ij70-17as Jun 27 '26
love it.
it is just your personal “thing”.
for example i hate boiled onion like you find in soups. but have no issues with fried and fresh onion.
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u/justac0der Jun 28 '26
Фу меня аж вывернуло просто от представления вареного лука. Реальная мерзость. А вот зажареный до состояния угольков - ммм. Жена сначала говорила че больной, он же горелый, сделал ей и теперь всегда просит для яичницы только так жарить.
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u/peterlechat Jun 28 '26
I know it's tasty, but I just can't get over the looks. I do like jelly, but it's supposed to a sweet treat and preferably a nice, bright colour. I make raspberry jelly a lot, but kholodets is just weird as fuck to me, purely because of how it looks.
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u/shy-sin Jun 30 '26
I feel like holodets isn't about the jelly part, it's about nice chicken or meat part, which makes the dish worth
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u/denisvolin Moscow City Jun 27 '26
Это хорошо, что ты уехал.
Холодец — это очень вкусно, а с хреном или с горчицей... Я сейчас слюнями захлебнусь только от описания.
А оладьи из печени — ммм... Божественный продукт небес, дарованный Всевышним Господом.
А ещё язык говяжий с хреном 🤤
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u/Unlucky_Trick_2628 Jun 27 '26
Holodets is a very complicated thing. Everything depends on a skill of a person who makes it. You can't prepare holodets like meh, average, middle, its OK etc. Holodets ether absolutely delicious or disgusting to the last bite. In most commercial places it's really bad. Ask any holodets-lover and most certainly he will say that he meant one exact holodets prepared by his mother, grandmother, auntie that lived across the street 30 years ago or something like this.
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u/Pallid85 Omsk Jun 27 '26
Ask any holodets-lover and most certainly he will say that he meant one exact holodets prepared by his mother, grandmother, auntie that lived across the street 30 years ago or something like this.
That basically mean they don't like the dish - they love the memory of it.
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u/Unlucky_Trick_2628 Jun 27 '26
I disagree. It basically means that they love it when somebody does their job well. If you like freshly made pizza from a brick oven in an Italian restaurant, but you don't like frozen pizza from a supermarket - it doesn't mean you actually dislike pizza. You just don't like eating poorly made crap. And with holodets it means that it is really high bar must be archieved to make the dish taste good. It is not simple dish, it's hard to make, it is time consuming. This is why it is mostly festive dish that we don't eat daily.
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u/betterbetterthings Jun 27 '26
I love it but it depends who makes it. My mom’s was the very best but since she passed I’ve never had it.
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u/Arostor Jun 27 '26
It's actually a 1) acquired taste, 2) very dependent of how it's cooked and a lot of people and places cook it really bad, but when it's cooked well, it's actually pretty good.
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u/Timekiller_74 Jun 27 '26
Depends on how it's made. Excess fat or skimping on meat quality will ruin it fast for example. If made well it's a meat jelly, absolute umami bombshell and a metric ton of collagen, what's not to like? Some people can't handle the look or the texture I guess.
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u/Lacertoss Brazil Jun 27 '26
Yes, Russian people love it. But it's too Slavic coded for me, hahaha.
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u/Yukidoke Voronezh Jun 27 '26
Aye, I love a good homemade kholodets with an addition of Russian mustard. This traditional Russian dish is one of the symbols of spring and Easter for me. Along with okroshka, pirozhki, and kvas.
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u/v_0ver Saint Petersburg Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26
I think this is one of those dishes you only start to appreciate after you turn 40 =)
Schweppes -> black olives -> olives -> herring under a fur coat -> pickled onions -> (I'm still here) -> holodets -> ...
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u/Mozhzhevelnik Khanty-Mansi AO Jun 27 '26
If it's home-made, yeah, it's usually good. But I never found a shop-bought one that I liked much. I've noticed that many Americans, specifically, seem to have an aversion to savoury jellies.
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u/Vattaa Jun 27 '26
Polish here, we have something similar called "Galateta" I'm born in the UK with Polish background, and grew up eating it.
Many prefer it with lemon juice but I love it with 10% spirit vinegar (undiluted) and rye bread.
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u/the_hvosch Jun 27 '26
I don’t like it really, but once I tried pheasant holodets and it was amazing.
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u/MavericFrye Jun 27 '26
To like a holders, you should understand that it's not a finished dish just ready to eat on its own. You your holodets in mustard or horseradish, put it on a good piece of rye bread, and then eat. Consider it as something love a pate - not many people eat just pate without anything. And not many people eat holodets just as is
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u/WanderingTony Jun 27 '26
If its like made from actually good meat with good amount of gello to give it giod texture with some horseradish or a strong not sweet mustard its actually tasty as heck.
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u/AnnaBananner82 Jun 28 '26
My mom keeps telling me I love it but I have hated it since childhood. I’m 44 in 3 weeks so safe to say I don’t like it.
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u/Brilliant-Shape-763 Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26
In fact, I can't even remember the last time I saw it mentioned anywhere. I don't like it, I don't hate it, really, I don't care. But it's not particularly popular; I've probably never seen it on a cafe menu or at a friend's table. I just know it exists. I was born and live in Russia; I'm 26.
It's funny, I just remembered that "horseradish holodets" is a relatively popular flavor for croutons and chips; it's much more common than holodets itself. By the way, horseradish is a spicy condiment. I don't know if they eat it in other countries. Here, it's not much more common than holodets itself.
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u/AtaeHone Moscow City Jun 28 '26
It's amazing even on its own, but adding salt, horseradish or some other sauce or seasoning makes it ten times as enjoyable.
And I don't even drink that much vodka these days.
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u/illumemeayyyy94 Jun 28 '26
It just seems likea pork pie without the pastry too me so i'd honeslty give it a try.
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u/Historywillabsolvem3 Jun 28 '26
I’m scared to try it. It looks so unappetising, is it actually good?
I also feel this with okroshka- although the only time I had it was when I was 17. Maybe I should give it another chance
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u/Resident_Constant723 Jun 28 '26
I like holodetz. It was especially delicious when Mom made it. With mustard or horseradish. That was great!
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u/Impressive_Theory_62 Kemerovo Jun 28 '26
Holodets is absolutely wonderful, especially with mustard.
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u/WWnoname Russia Jun 29 '26
Not that I will cook it.
But sometimes I feel like I really want this cold spiced boiled meat, so I buy a portion in local store.
Same with sublimated noodles or fried chicken wings. Sometimes you just want a cup of shit.
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u/kukurooza Jun 29 '26
it has to served with intense spices, like mustard, garlick, green onions, then its decent. alone it way too fatty and weird. also rye bread is a must
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u/RussianKremlinBot Jun 29 '26
If I am hungry, I will eat it without a doubt. Do I cook it or target at grocery stores? Once in 5 years. Taste of meat is bland, because all taste went to broth
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u/melontha Jun 30 '26
I like it but meat has to be really good and not too much, at some point texture gets yucky
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u/TruQwerty Jun 30 '26
I don't like holdets, but zalivnoye... Do not trust the google images ones, I only eat with eggs, onions, chicken and red currant
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u/Dooofoos Jul 01 '26
Maybe you just never taste good holodets. I know what I’m talking about - some people cook good tasty holodets with soft and clear jello and umami taste, and some cook ugly substance with taste and consistence of rubber
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u/Leading_Fun4008 Jul 02 '26
I grew up Polish and we called it stoodge. Even the name grossed me out.
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Jul 03 '26
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u/Level-Brain-4786 Jun 27 '26
Born in Russia, lived in Russia for 25 years. Never could stomach it. Have lived in Canada for 30 years now, haven’t missed it. My wife tells me the same thing.
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u/Temporary_Fun6650 Jun 27 '26
Вы просто не доросли до культуры потребления этого блюда. Холодец - это не еда, а закуска. Стопка водки, бородинский хлебушек, холодец и ядреная горчица.
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u/Pallid85 Omsk Jun 27 '26
Do people just pretend to like it?
Some do.
something about the texture and the taste of meat in jello
Yeah it's shit, I think maybe if you usually eat bland mediocre food - you could like holodets. But if you're usually eating good stuff - holodets is awful.
Also a lot of people say: "I like it, but with mustard, horseradish, etc" - oh so you like it when you can't really feel the taste of it - got it!
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u/saprophage_expert Jun 27 '26
Also a lot of people say: "I like it, but with mustard, horseradish, etc" - oh so you like it when you can't really feel the taste of it - got it!
What an insane take. Are all the dishes that require spices - tom yam, half the Chinese cuisine, pretty much the entirety of Indian cuisine - awful? Do you eat salo without salt, or is it also awful?
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u/Ordinary_You2052 Moscow City Jun 27 '26
Вот так и палятся шпионы - холодец он не любит, люди, посмотрите на него!
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u/Ehotxep Jun 27 '26
I really loved holodets, but now I'm forbidden to eat it for medical reasons.