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Eighteen Oysters
27 Three large Truffles.
One hard-boiled Egg.
One teaspoonful of Anchovy Paste.
One teaspoonful of Tarragon Vinegar.
Half a gill of Cream.
About a pint of Aspic Jelly.
Six filleted Anchovies.
A few slices of Cucumber.
A pinch of Cayenne, Salt, Pepper, and grated Nutmeg. Flake the salmon; line a medium-sized dariole mould with aspic jelly, ornament with a few slices of truffles, some nice flakes of salmon and a few cooked and bearded oysters. Set the garnish well with a little aspic, and put to cool. Pound the remainder of the fish in a mortar, together with six cooked oysters, the hard-boiled egg and the anchovy paste. Season with a pinch of cayenne pepper, salt, and a little grated nutmeg. Rub through a fine sieve, add the tarragon vinegar, the cream, and about half a pint of aspic jelly. Mix well, and fill the mould with the mixture. Put the anchovy fillets, a few slices of truffles and a few bearded oysters between the farce in filling Should the mixture not quite fill the mould, fill up with aspic jelly, and put it on the ice until required. Immerse the mould in tepid water, turn out on a round dish, garnish round the sides with chopped aspic and a few fancifully cut slices of cucumber.
A cold moulded salmon-and-oyster mousse set in aspic, of the kind that anchored a late-Victorian cold table. Nothing here is cooked once assembly begins, so every element — salmon, oysters, aspic — must be fully cooked and thoroughly chilled before it goes near the mould.
- The hinge: set the lining in stagesCoat the mould with a thin film of aspic and let it firm in the refrigerator before laying in the truffle, salmon flakes and oysters, then fix that garnish with a second thin spoonful. Poured in one go, the decoration floats loose and the turned-out mould looks muddled.
- GillA gill is a quarter of a pint, 5 fl oz by imperial measure, so half a gill is about 2 1/2 fl oz (roughly 70 ml) of cream. The half pint of aspic worked into the farce is 10 fl oz (about 285 ml) imperial.
- Quantity of salmonThe instructions call for flaked salmon but no weight is given for it. For a mould taking a pint of aspic, reckon on about 1 lb of cooked salmon — roughly a third for the lining flakes and the rest pounded into the farce.
- Dariole mouldA true dariole is a small tapered tin of only a few fluid ounces; a "medium-sized" one here is evidently larger, though not all of the pint of aspic goes into the mould, so something around a pint is likely enough. Any straight-sided or slightly tapered metal mould will unmould cleanly.
- Aspic jellyAspic of this period is generally a clarified fish or veal stock set with gelatine, though this page does not say how it is made. Bought jelly crystals will do, but a home-made fish stock set to a firm gel, firm enough for a mould that must stand up, carries far more flavour.
- Bearded oystersTo beard an oyster is to trim off the dark frilled gill and tough muscle. Poach them in their own liquor barely two minutes, until the edges just ruffle; longer cooking turns them rubbery.
- Truffles and anchovyThree large truffles is an extravagance no longer proportionate to the dish, and the text does not say whether fresh or preserved were meant. Sliced preserved truffle, or thin rounds of black olive for colour, gives much the same visual effect. Anchovy paste is still sold; whatever filleted anchovies you use should be patted dry.
- Chilling and turning out"Put it on the ice" means the refrigerator — allow at least 4 hours, better overnight, for a mould this size. Dip it in tepid water for only a few seconds, wipe the base, then invert onto a chilled dish; a long soak melts the decorative aspic lining.
- YieldA 1 to 1.5 pint mould serves 6 to 8 as a first course, cut in wedges. Keep it refrigerated until the moment it goes to the table and do not let it stand out more than an hour.
Cold moulded fish in aspic was the display piece of the late nineteenth-century cuisine froide, and books of "high class" recipes carried dozens of variations: the pounded farce rubbed through a sieve, lightened with cream, bound with jelly and lined with a mosaic of truffle and cucumber. The technique belongs to the era before mechanical refrigeration was general, when ice came in blocks from the icehouse or the fishmonger and the ability to serve a firm, glossy mould in warm weather was itself the achievement — hence the repeated instruction to "put it on the ice until required." Truffle and anchovy appear less for their own sake than as marks of rank; the same construction made with cheaper garnish would have been called a salmon shape rather than given a place among high class cookery. Oysters, worth remembering, were still cheap and abundant in Britain at this date, a bulking ingredient as much as a luxury one.