Fiskebudding-Fish Pudding

Viking food. I served it with rye bread.

Anyway, the boys liked it, and most of it is already gone. I served it cold, but it can also be a hot meal. The pictures are terrible, but white food is pretty difficult to photograph. If I wanted to be really Midwestern in the presentation I would have served it with cauliflower in white sauce, on a white plate. That's very Midwestern. That really would have made a poor photograph.

Hey, guess what I saw today? A nine year old with frosted hair, or highlights, or whatever they call it now. It matched her mother's. That was in West Omaha, which is supposed to be where the "nice" people live. Why do people dress their daughters that way? Good god, let them be children for a while before you're frosting their hair and buying them clothing that makes them look like tarts. I know this has nothing to do with fish pudding, but I'm still kind of disturbed by it. An older man asked me why I looked so sad today. I guess that's it-so very sad. How can it be anything but?

Right, the fish pudding then. It is easy enough to do, and if you have a food processor, probably even simpler.

From The Women's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery volume "D" for Danish Cookery...like Vikings!

You Will Need:

1 pound lean white fish (I used cod)
3 tablespoons melted butter
2 tablespoons each AP flour and cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste
1 egg, well beaten
1/3 cup milk at room temperature
Breadcrumbs for mould

Grind fish, or whirl in a blender a small amount at a time until smooth. You should have 2 cups of fish. Add butter, flour and cornstarch. Add seasonings to taste and beaten egg. With an electric mixer, blend in the milk a very small bit at a time until absorbed (wear an apron-it will splash).

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Set a pan of hot water in the oven to heat and have boiling water ready to top it off after adding the mould. Butter a 1 quart mould or loaf pan and dust with dry breadcrumbs. Pour in the fish, set in a water bath and bake 1 hour, or until done. Mine took about 10 minutes longer. Remove from pan of water and either serve warm, or chill several hours before serving.