Representative Albert Johnson's "Salmon Mold"

I got my hands on an antique copper fish mold two weeks back at an antiques place in San Dimas (shout out to Bonita Antiques). I knew immediately that I would be making a fish mousse or aspic soon, and of course, Congress did not disappoint.

Chef Albert Johnson

Republican Representative from Pennsylvania

Favorite Food/Homespun Recipe: Favorite Food

Notable:

immediately retiring to Boca Raton after losing reelection bid; that’s really it, it’s wild to have been a U.S. congressman for years and then when you die, your obituary contains almost nothing.

As always, I followed the recipe word for word, no alterations:

INGREDIENTS

1 tbsp gelatin

1 tbsp cold water

1/2 cup boiling water

2 cups salmon (no. 2 can)

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup diced celery

pimento and green pepper (optional)

SAUCE:

1/2 cup pepper relish

1 cup mayonnaise

juice of 1 lemon

INSTRUCTIONS

1) Stir cold water with gelatin until softened and dissolve in boiling water.

2) When cold, add drained, boned and flaked salmon, mayonnaise and celery. Add pimento and green pepper if desired.

I chose to go with pimento but not green pepper — the pimento adds a little pop of color. Green pepper is there for crunch and flavor, and I felt like I already had the crunch with celery.

3) Pour into mold and chill until firm.

4) Combine sauce ingredients to serve with mold. Serves 8.

You’ll be adding mayonnaise sauce to your mayonnaise fish, yes.

Voila! If you want to actually watch me attempt to eat it, go to the Cookin’ with Congress Instagram or TikTok. The brass mold did its job! Beautiful. Though it would have been nice to add a pimento or olive eyeball, the fish is clearly a fish. It didn’t budge either, meaning the gelatin molding sufficiently coagulated (an evil word that I love).

Verdict:

I like my seafood salads light on the mayo, which is why this is not up my alley. It is HEAVILY mayonnaise flavored, to the point where I forgot multiple times that this was salmon, not tuna.