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Fish Salad with Cucumbers
Season one and one-half cups cold cooked flaked halibut, haddock, or cod, with salt, cayenne, and lemon juice. Cover, and let stand one hour. To Cream Dressing II (see p. 324) add one-third tablespoon granulated gelatine soaked in one and one-half tablespoons cold water. As soon as dressing begins to thicken, add one-half cup heavy cream beaten until stiff, then fold in the fish. Turn into individual moulds, chill, remove from moulds, arrange on lettuce leaves, garnish each with a thin slice of cucumber, and serve with Cucumber Sauce. Pare two cucumbers, chop, drain off most of liquor, and season with salt, pepper, and vinegar.
A moulded fish salad from the Fannie Farmer tradition, held together with a small amount of gelatine folded into a cooked dressing and whipped cream. The whole dish succeeds or fails on the timing of that fold.
- The hinge: catch the dressing mid-setThe gelatine must be fully dissolved in the warm dressing, then the mixture cooled only until it thickens to the consistency of unbeaten egg white before the whipped cream and fish go in. Fold too early and the cream sinks into a watery layer; too late and the mixture sets in lumps that will not mould smoothly.
- Gelatine measureOne-third tablespoon is one teaspoon, a little under half a standard 1/4-oz envelope, soaked in 1 1/2 tablespoons cold water. That is a deliberately soft set — enough to unmould, not enough to bounce.
- Cream Dressing IIThe cross-reference is to a separate dressing recipe elsewhere in the book, of the cooked or "boiled" dressing type rather than whipped cream or modern mayonnaise. A cooked dressing is what carries the gelatine and gives the mould its tang; check the page cited for the exact ingredients.
- Cooked fishOne and a half cups flaked fish is about 8 to 10 oz cooked, from roughly 3/4 lb raw. Poached or steamed halibut or cod both work; skip anything smoked or brined, as the seasoning here is already salt, cayenne and lemon.
- The hour of standingNot optional padding. Salt and lemon on cold flaked fish for an hour firms the flakes and seasons them through, so the mould does not taste like bland fish in a seasoned jacket.
- MouldsSmall individual moulds or ramekins of about 1/2 cup each; oil them lightly. Chill at least three to four hours. To turn out, dip the mould briefly in warm water and invert onto the lettuce.
- Cucumber sauceThis version is simply chopped, drained, seasoned cucumber — a relish rather than a sauce. The recipe drains off most of the liquor first and only then seasons with salt, pepper and vinegar; draining well keeps it from flooding the plate, and the vinegar is best added at the last minute.
- YieldEnough for four to six small moulds as a first course or a light lunch salad.
Moulded fish salads like this belong to the era when gelatine had just become a cheap, reliable pantry item — granulated gelatine sold in packets replaced the tedious business of boiling calves' feet or shredding sheet isinglass, and cookery schools seized on it. Fannie Farmer's book, first published in 1896 and revised repeatedly, is full of dishes that owe their existence to that convenience: fish, chicken and vegetables set in individual moulds, unmoulded onto lettuce, and served cold. The appeal was partly economic (yesterday's boiled halibut turned into today's company lunch) and partly aesthetic, since the domestic-science movement prized food that looked composed and geometric rather than merely heaped. The cucumber pairing is older than the mould: cucumber and vinegar have long been served with cold boiled fish in English and New England cooking, on the traditional reasoning that the sharpness cuts the richness.