[Sca-cooks] Salmon mousse recipes

[ranvaig at columbus.rr.com]

This recipe was posted awhile ago, and I am going to try it today.  Reading over the directions, I wondered if the salmon really should be cooked first, or if one should "bray" the raw fish and let it cook as it thickens.   A bit of searching found Cariadoc's version, which uses it raw.  His version uses pomegranate juice in the fish with the seeds over the top.

Ranvaig

http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cariadoc/seafood.html#6

Vyaunde de Cyprys in Lent
Two Fifteenth Century p. 28/57
Take good thick milk of almonds, and do it on a pot; nym the flesh of good crabs, and good salmon, and bray it small, and temper it up with the foresaid milk; boil it, and lye it with flour of rice or amyndoun, and make it chargeaunt; when it is yboiled, do thereto white sugar, a gode quantitie of white vernage pimes (apparently a wine like muscadine) with the wine, pomegranate. When it is ydressed, strew above the grains of pomegranate.
almond milk: 2 oz blanched almonds, 1 c water
7 oz crabmeat
7 oz salmon
2 T rice flour
3 T sugar
4 t Rhine wine
2 T pomegranate juice
pomegranate seeds
Almond milk: Grind almonds in food processor, mix in 1/2 c water and grind more, squeeze liquid out through thin cloth, add residue to 1/4 c water and grind in processor again, squeeze again, repeat with another 1/4 c water.
Remove skin and bones from salmon, cut salmon and crab into cubes and shred with French chef's knife. Mix fish and almond milk and cook over medium heat; add sugar, wine, and pomegranate juice after 5 minutes; add rice flour after 11 minutes, cook, stirring, another minute, remove from heat and keep stirring another half minute. Garnish with pomegranate seeds.

>Vyaunde de Cyprys in Lente
>
>Take gode thikke mylke of Almaundys, & do it on a potte: & nyme the Flesshye of gode Crabbys & gode Samoun, & bray it smal, & tempere yt vppe with the forsayd milke; boyle it, an lye it with floure of Rys or Amyndoun, an make it chargeaunt; when it ys y-boylid, do ther-to whyte Sugre, a gode quantyte of whyte Vernage Pime, with the wyn, Pome-garnade, When it is y-dressyd, straw a-boue the grayne of Pome-garnade.
>
>Recipe
>
>After much experimentation with ingredients of varying expense:
>
>1 lb canned salmon, or cooked "real" salmon. Adding crab meat makes no difference to the flavour but quite a lot to the price.
>2 oz ground almonds
>Rice flour (Several spoonfuls: amount will vary)
>2 tbs sugar
>2 tbs white wine (if you poach the salmon in wine to cook it, this will intensify the wine flavour)
>Seeds from 1-2 pomegranates
>A suitable mould
>Make up almond milk.
>Flake fish finely (use a blender if you want it really fine), mix with almond milk.
>Add sugar and wine, bring to the boil, gradually stir in enough rice flour to thicken it as far as you can. (Adding the wine afterwards, as in the original, un-thickens it).
>Stir in pomegranate seeds. Spoon into a mould and chill.
>When ready to serve, turn out and dress with more pomegranate seeds.
>