Howdy, Jigglers! After making the Salmon Mousse, I needed a refresher of a normal, fruity gelatin recipe, and the Orange-Mallow Ring was a simple, fun recipe that met those criteria perfectly.
Basically, this molded dessert is orange-pineapple gelatin to which mandarin orange sections (or fresh orange sections) and quartered or mini marshmallows are added. I of course substituted unflavored gelatin for Jell-O, and for the flavoring I used ginger ale as directed and added the syrup from the can of mandarin oranges and some juice from a can of pineapple that I conveniently happened to have on hand. The result was a surpringly brightly colored ring mold studded with fruit and fluffy marshmallow which was as simply pleasant to eat as it was to look at.
I was honestly rather surprised that General Foods did not instruct the addition of any further elements into this dish. Some nuts or fish or something seems like it would be more up their alley.
At any rate, this dessert was a plain old-fashioned good idea on the part of General Foods. I especially like the combination of oranges and marshmallow. If using fresh oranges, this would provide a very tasty contrast between the tangy oranges and the marshmallows.
Howdy, Jigglers! Though today's recipe certainly sounds odd as a Jell-O dish, I had been nonetheless excited to try it for quite a while. Part of this is due to never having eaten a mousse in my life, but part of it is also due to this recipe being a cool, one-dish, low-carb meal in itself, and thus perfect for summer lunches.
Salmon Mousse is just one variation of mousse-type salads included in this recipe. The others are chicken, ham, and tuna. However, I had not had salmon for a long time, and I had eaten a LOT of celery lately (which is the main vegetable in the other variations), so I went with the salmon, and I didn't regret it.
I essentially made this recipe as written, only substituting out unflavored gelatin with half a lemon's worth of juice for the lemon Jell-O. The basic method is simple: you prepare gelatin, adding cayenne pepper and vinegar, let it cool a bit, mix it with whipped cream and mayonnaise, and then fold in the salmon and diced cucumber. At this point you mold it and let it set.
However, I do take issue with the recipe to some extent, because while the method produced a tasty salmon salad with gelatin in it, it did not seem like much of a mousse. I believe a better way to proceed is to let the gelatin set until it has eggwhite consistency, whip it, then add the cream and mayo and whip all three together, after which the rest of the ingredients can be incorporated.
This way you 1) avoid globs of random gelatin strewn into the salad, 2) get a lighter, fluffier texture in general, and 3) get a better mold shape. As is, the salad somewhat adhered to the shape of my Bundt pan, but with the gelatin-mayo-cream mixture at a higher percentage of the volume of the salad mixture, the molding would be more apparent.
However, on the whole, this recipe is a success. It is a creamy, well spiced molded salad that isn't gross, and I am very grateful for that considering that I made this as my main lunch dish for a whole week, so I have to give kudos to the General Foods team for at least one sane seafood Jell-O recipe.
