Ham Mousse
Into half a cup of boiling water put one tablespoonful of gelatin that has been soaked in a quarter cup of cold water. Add two cups of finely chopped boiled ham, mix well and flavor with a little onion juice, pepper and salt, and a pinch of thyme. Flavoring is a matter of personal taste, some like a little mustard added, others like a little curry powder. Whip stiff half a cup of cream.
When the gelatin mixture is cool, stir the whipped cream into it lightly. Put in a mold, set in the ice box until ready to serve. Turn out and garnish with slices of lemon cut in fancy shapes, surround with cress.
A straightforward icebox mousse that depends on gelatin, cold, and time. The only real technique is folding the cream in at the right moment.
- The hinge: temperature of the gelatin"When the gelatin mixture is cool" means cool to the touch but not yet set — around room temperature, still fluid. Fold in warm and the cream melts to soup; fold in set and you get rubbery streaks. If it stiffens too soon, warm the bowl briefly and stir smooth.
- Gelatin quantityOne tablespoon is a little more than one modern envelope (an envelope is about 7 g / ¼ oz, or 2¼ teaspoons). Bloom it in the quarter cup of cold water for 5 minutes, then dissolve in the boiling water and check that no granules remain before adding the ham.
- Chopping the ham"Finely chopped" means a fine dice or mince; two cups is about 10 oz of cooked ham. A food processor does it in short pulses, but stop before it turns gummy — the texture should still read as meat, not spread.
- Onion juiceA period shortcut for onion flavor without pieces: grate half an onion and squeeze it through a sieve or cloth. A teaspoon is plenty. Onion powder is not the same thing but will do at about a quarter teaspoon.
- CreamUse heavy or whipping cream (36% fat) and whip only to soft-stiff peaks. Half a cup of cream yields about a cup whipped, which is what gives the mousse its lift against a heavy load of ham.
- Ice box and setting timeAn ice box ran warmer and less steadily than a modern refrigerator, commonly around 50°F or above. In a modern fridge allow at least 4 hours in the mold, and overnight is better for a clean turn-out.
- UnmoldingOil the mold lightly or rinse it with cold water before filling. To release, dip the base in warm water for a few seconds and invert onto a chilled plate.
- Yield and servingFills a 3- to 4-cup mold and serves 4 to 6 as a lunch or supper dish. Cress means watercress or garden cress; watercress, arugula or mâche all work as the bed.
- KeepingGelatin and chopped cooked meat are a good medium for bacteria. Keep it refrigerated until the moment it goes to the table, and eat it within two days.
Molded meat mousses like this one belong to the long era of gelatin cookery that ran from the late nineteenth century, when powdered gelatin became cheap and reliable, through the mid twentieth. The appeal was practical: a cook could use up cooked ham, serve it cold, and produce something that looked composed enough for company without lighting the stove. The "mousse" label signals the whipped cream folded in at the end, which distinguishes it from a plain aspic or a pressed potted meat. The invitation to finish it with mustard or curry powder reflects a period convention of treating cold ham as a canvas for whatever pungent seasoning the household kept on the shelf.