It's hard to be a native Ohioan and have an appreciation for seafood. I rarely ate fresh fish as a child and when I did, it wasn't very good. It wasn't that my parents were poor cooks; twenty years ago it was hard to find seafood worth cooking.
These days, life is different. Fish is flown in from all over the world to several places in the city. Seafood can be great here now but my old biases remain: my palate isn't trained to love seafood.
I cannot fault Ohio for my anti-pescetarian ways. My heartland state is doing everything it can to create world-class ingredients of all sorts. When tasked with the Charcutepalooza binding challenge, I wanted to tackle a fish mousseline featuring Ohio ingredients.
My daughter Lillian, exchange student Anna and I set our sights on a little spot that raises shrimp amidst ubiquitous tracts of corn fields near Urbana Ohio, population 11,600.
We started our visit to Freshwater Farms of Ohio with a self guided tour. We saw thousands of trout raised in indoor and outdoor tanks but the star attraction was the sturgeon. These dino-fish are over a decade old and tame to humans. After the requisite petting of the sturgeon, we made our way into the store.
I saw no shrimp in the cases. I asked the monger and was disappointed to learn that this year's shrimp would not be ready until the Shrimp Festival held in mid-September. (Y'all come! My dad's bluegrassy band is playing Saturday and if the last two years are any indication it will be a fun time.)
we came away with some smoked farm-raised trout for the mousseline. I had to substitute far-away shrimp for the emulsion but all other ingredients were raised by my family or my friends at Snowville Creamery. Fresh backyard pimentos (roasted, skin removed) and kale studded the shrimp mousseline and it bound together with a city chicken egg white.
We un-molded and sliced the mousseline at a family dinner. Anna and Alex ate a quarter of the shrimp and trout creation alone. Alex's parents enjoyed it as well. Lil and I only tolerated our bites. I guess we're still Ohioans not quite ready for treasures of the (aquaculture) sea.
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Trout and Shrimp Mousseline
an interpretation of the Shrimp and Salmon Terrine with spinach and mushrooms in Michael Ruhlman's Charcuterie
1/2 pound raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 medium egg white
1/2 cup heavy cream
twist of freshly ground white pepper
1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 cup fresh kale, stems removed and chiffonade
1/2 fresh pimento pepper, flame roasted and skin removed, diced
3 ounces smoked trout
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Have roasting pan ready to fit your terrine mold.
2. Put shrimp and egg white into food processor bowl with freezer chilled blade. Process until pureed.
3. With food processor still running, pour in cream in a steady strem. Season with salt and white pepper.
4. Transfer shrimp to a freezer chilled bowl and gently stir in pimento pepper and kale.
5. Line chilled terrine mold with plastic wrap. Place one half of shrimp mixture into terrine pan.
6. Cover with smoked trout fillets. Cut one fillet in half to form two slim trianges and rearrange around a whole fillet as shown to fit a rectangular terrine.
7. Top with remaining shrimp mixture.
8. Pull plastic wrap over the top and place in ban marie pan. Fill with water to within an inch of the top of the terrine mold. Cover with mold lid or foil.
9. Place terrine in pre-heated oven and cook until the internal temperature measures 140 degrees F, approximately 30 minutes.
10. Remove terrine from oven and water bath. Cover with a weight on top. A board or other flat object weighted to two mason jars filled with water or two beer bottles works well.
11. Allow to cool to room temperature and then place in the fridge until thoroughly chilled, at least four hours.
12. Unmold gently. Serve in 1/4 inch slices on crackers, bread, or as part of a charcuterie plate.
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This post is my seventh in the Charcutepalooza challenge. Catch up on the whole series: Salt Cure, the Story of the Rachel, Why I Had to Kill a Pig to Eat Meat Again, Taco Truck Chorizo Sopito, Mint Lamb Sausage, and How to Make Hot Dogs like a Girl.
