Cream Puffs with Crab Filling

Between the recipes for cream puffs and crab filling, this card had a recipe for tomato aspic. Carol assures me that Mom's crab puffs never had anything to do with aspic. Nevertheless, I think I know why the aspic is on the same card: It is a second way to serve crab salad (see below).

Basic Cream Puffs

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 cup sifted flour
• 4 eggs

Heat water, butter, sugar, and salt to full rolling boil. Add flour all at once. Stir vigorously with wooden spoon until mix forms a thick, smooth ball that leaves sides of pan clean, about 1 minute. Continue to cook for another 2 minutes. Remove saucepan from heat.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition with wooden spoon for 30 seconds or until shiny and smooth.

Drop into a muffin pan. Bake at 425°F for 35 minutes or until puffed and golden brown.

To fill the cream puffs, cut a bit off the top, fill the bottom with seafood salad, pudding or any other filling your imagination conjures up. Then pop the top back on. Carol says she has used cheesecake filling with good results. Grace used the filling below.

Crab Filling

• 1 cup crab meat
• 3 tablespoons mayonaise
• 2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoon grated onion
• 1 tablespoon seafood sauce

The recipe once included 1/2 teaspoon dill leaves, but Grace crossed that out.

Tomato Aspic

• 1 box lemon jello
• 1 can stewed tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon horseradish (optional)

(Jill's directions) I am guessing at quantities of jello and tomato because the original doesn't say. Mix the Jello according to the packaged instructions, using the liquid from the tomatoes as part of the cold water. Start it chilling. Chop the tomatoes (or buy diced). When the Jello is about half set, stir in the tomatoes and horseradish. Pour it into a mold if you are using one. Chill thoroughly.

About Aspic

True aspic is similar to bone broth. It is the jelly-like stuff that you find under roast chicken or turkey after it's been in the fridge. Make aspic by boiling the skin, bones, cartilage and tendons of meat or fish for hours to extract the collagen. Alternatively, let someone else do the work. Commercial gelatin and Jello are basically aspic without the meat flavors. Gelatin comes from hooves, bones, etc. and it is the main ingredient in Jello (but the company doesn't want consumers to think about where gelatin comes from).

Julia Childs popularized aspic on her cooking show (The French Chef, July 8, 1963), and it was common at dinner parties in the 1960s. A few chefs are bringing it back in the 2020s.

If you want to try a French-style aspic, layer chopped vegetables (raw or cooked, depending on how much crunch you want, seasoned to your taste) or chunks of meat in clear bowl or a mold. The idea is to make a pretty pattern with contrasting colors. Dissolve gelatin powder in water or clear broth (1 tablespoon gelatin for 2 cups liquid) and pour it over the layered food. Chill thoroughly. The gelatin holds the vegetables together like the mortar in a stone wall or mosaic.