[Sca-cooks] Almond Jello (was Period Foods: How to Fake It!)

[Susan Fox-Davis]

On 12/4/03 1:17 PM, "Robin Carroll-Mann" <rcmann4 at earthlink.net> wrote:

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Huette von Ahrens <ahrenshav at yahoo.com>
> 
> The only "faking" that I recall doing was as a
> banquet joke.  I was doing a Viking banquet when
> Selene jokingly suggested that we include
> lutefisk.  Knowing that few would eat real
> lutefisk, I made modern almond jello in
> fish-shaped molds and served it as "lutefisk".
> Those who actually tried the dish got the joke.
> And I never passed off almond jello as period.
> ----------------------------
> 
> Oddly enough, I recently came across a period German recipe that one might
> call almond jello.  It's a gelatin dish made with almond milk and isinglass,
> and is supposed to be solid enough that one can cut it into cubes.
> (Isinglass, for those who don't know, is a form of gelatin made from the
> swimbladders of certain fish.  Modern gelatin -- including Jello -- is made
> from the bones and hides of cows and pigs.)
> 
> However, almond Jello would certainly not be period for a Viking feast.
> 
> Brighid ni Chiarain

OK, no it wasn't, but it was white and gelatinous and much tastier than
actual Lutefisk.  We did have a few disappointed purists who wanted real
Lutefisk anyway.  Go please the world.  We threw rice porridge with
lingonberries at them and they were happy.

Can you get Isinglass anymore, or do I have to go catch the right kind of
fish for their bladders?  <double icky!>

Selene Colfox