Ham in the fine way
Cold starters such as pies, terrines or even a mousse have it all, they keep you as a cook control of the smooth running of the meal. Whether vegetable terrine, farmer pate, ham mousse or even foie gras: the nice thing is that you can taste it before and knows exactly what culinary delights you reach. Often just a slice of toasted bread and a bit of refined pickles are enough to make a high-quality starter.
I was always very keen that my guests got a perfect cold appetizer. And so I set to work until I had the best goose liver pate around. One of my secrets is that I always marinate her with a decent shot of the best cognac (like "Frapin"). Just do not save on the wrong side, is my motto! The cheap kitchen cognac should rather forget: It's much better to have a wonderful pate than a sip of good cognac.
Really enjoyable you can taste the noble drop of my Mousse de Jambon, the ham mousse. And it works like this: first mix 300 grams of cream and 40 milliliters of milk and place in the fridge. Then remove about 700 grams of finely smoked ham from the rind, all the fat and the tendons and cut into fine cubes. I like York ham, but others are okay if it tastes good and not too dry. You get about 600 grams of ham cubes, which are cold. Now I make a béchamel sauce: For this I melt 10 grams of butter in a pot and stir 10 grams of flour with the whisk underneath. Stew for a minute. I take 150 milliliters of cold poultry stock (if you do not have one in stock, you can do it with a bouillon cube, but let it cool down!).
Add the stock, mix well and bring to a boil while stirring. Now add 100 grams of cream. I boil the liquid for three to five minutes until about 100 milliliters of béchamel sauce is left and let it cool.
So, now I'll put four sheets of white gelatin in 150 milliliters of cold water, preferably in a small casserole. Then I puree the ham cubes very finely in the food processor, add the cold béchamel sauce and process everything carefully to a smooth farce. Now the gelatin must be warmed up with the soaking water and pulled under the ham farce until everything is mixed well.
I add a good shot of cognac and a dash of port wine and season with some Madeira, strong with salt and pepper and finally add a touch of fresh grated nutmeg. Now, the cold cream-milk mixture is struck stiff and carefully lifted with a wooden spoon under the ham mass. Put the ham mousse in a bowl and keep it cold, preferably overnight. To serve, I stick it off with a spoonful of water in a bucket.
Voilà!
