The Drama of the Mackerel Mousse

When I was a teenager I found a recipe for mackerel mousse and made it. I was rather proud of myself. We happened to have my grandmother's individual fish-shaped jello molds and I'm *guessing* I would have used them? All I remember is that it was tasty.

So when I found a mackerel mousse recipe that needed claiming on a recipe card project that I'd heard about, I was all in. Yesterday was the day. You know how there's always a can of mackerel at your local store? It's cheap and comes in a dog food sized can. Not so down the street. It was available, but in teensy Italian $4.00 cans. I made up for it by using gelatin in my cupboard that expired 10 years ago. I got it all together and realized I didn't have enough mayo (2 tablespoons) for the recipe. Which is why I have a pineapple on the counter now. I spent $30 to get the mayo I needed! OK. Back in action.

Ingrediments (as Auntie Marialani would say):

Ancient gelatin firmed up like it should:

The resulting mousse was absolutely delicious:

I got really excited about presentation, so I started messing around with radishes and cucumbers, and a favorite pretty dish that belonged to my childhood neighbor, FX.

With molds, it's the dismount that's the hardest part. And I could not get this sucker out of the mold. I patted it and it wouldn't budge. Then I put it in a basin of warm water and it only liquefied the outer layer. So I put it back in the fridge. At the time I was listening to a Freakanomics podcast about creativity, and it was making me a little anxious. I wondered whether I should just scoop it out and abandon my plan. I went out and did a little gardening to clear my head and came back in. 

I finally decided that I should just give unmolding a try and if it failed it failed. I put plastic wrap on the bottom of the mold, put a pillow on the counter and a dish towel on that and thwocked the hell out of it. No go. I tried to introduce some air and break the vacuum by sliding a knife along the side. Nope. Finally I put mrguy's rice-filled sock in the microwave and gently heated the top of the mold. And slammed it down like hell on the pillow. Success.

It turned out amazing. I managed to fuss some more with garnish and took some pictures, which I sent to the project for their records. I posted to fb, and a friend said: "I'm getting a bit of a Judy Chicago vibe, here". 

Darn it!! Had to laugh.