Salmon Mousse

Original sources

Vyaunde de Cyprys in Lente

Take gode thikke mylke of Almaundys, & do it on a potte: & nyme the Flesshye of gode Crabbys & gode Samoun, & bray it smal, & tempere yt vppe with the forsayd milke; boyle it, an lye it with floure of Rys or Amyndoun, an make it chargeaunt; when it ys y-boylid, do ther-to whyte Sugre, a gode quantyte of whyte Vernage Pime, with the wyn, Pome-garnade, When it is y-dressyd, straw a-boue the grayne of Pome-garnade.

Recipe

After much experimentation with ingredients of varying expense:

1 lb canned salmon, or cooked "real" salmon. Adding crab meat makes no difference to the flavour but quite a lot to the price.
2 oz ground almonds
Rice flour (Several spoonfuls: amount will vary)
2 tbs sugar
2 tbs white wine (if you poach the salmon in wine to cook it, this will intensify the wine flavour)
Seeds from 1-2 pomegranates
A suitable mould

Make up almond milk.
Flake fish finely (use a blender if you want it really fine), mix with almond milk.
Add sugar and wine, bring to the boil, gradually stir in enough rice flour to thicken it as far as you can. (Adding the wine afterwards, as in the original, un-thickens it).
Stir in pomegranate seeds. Spoon into a mould and chill.
When ready to serve, turn out and dress with more pomegranate seeds.

Most recent revision November 2001