Twofer: Bleu Cheese De Luxe Mold w/ Lazy Man's Old-Fashioned

Bleu Cheese De Luxe Mold
Joys of Jell-O page 74
Lazy Man's Old-Fashioned
Contributed  by Samuel Gaillard Stoney
Charleston Receipts page 12

My secret dream of creating a buffalo-chicken-inspired Jell-O mold recipe - oh wait, it's not a secret anymore, is it? - came one step closer this week, with the Joys of Jell-O approved Bleu Cheese De Luxe Mold. I wasn't sure if Bleu Cheese, an essential ingredient in any buffalo chicken-inspired dish, would hold up to gelatinization, but thankfully we can all rest easy on that front.

Auto-correct didn't change "gelatinization", so I'm assuming it's an actual word.

"Joys of Jell-O", uncharacteristically, didn't have an exuberant sentence describing the thrill your guests would get from tasting this dish, opting instead for a flat "This mold is delicious as spread for crackers or apple wedges or as a salad."  Period the end.  Regardless, I was anxious to test the viability of bleu cheese, as well as to use my beautiful new individual  copper molds which I scored for 75 cents each at an antique store in Pilot Mountain, NC, the oft-overlooked neighbor to Mt. Airy, birthplace of Andy Griffith, and the inspiration for TV's Mayberry.  Pilot Mountain is, of course, the inspiration for the frequently-mentioned Mt. Pilot, but today is forgotten by the tourists who flock to Mt. Airy, which has fully embraced its pop culture bonafides. But the real Pilot Mountain after which the town is named cuts an imposing figure on the landscape, and is worth a visit if you're in the area.

Pilot Mountain, North Carolina

Now, for the recipe:
1 3-oz. package Jell-O Lemon Gelatin
1 cup boiling water
1/4 cup cold water
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup crumbled bleu cheese
2 cups finely diced unpeeled red apple (optional)

Dissolve Jell-O Gelatin in boiling water. Add cold water and wine. Then blend in sour cream. Chill until very thick. Stir in cheese and apples. Pour into a 1-quart mold or individual molds. Chill until firm. Unmold on lettuce and serve with crackers or apple wedges.

To the above I took the liberty of adding bacon bits. Because bacon.  And I did use the optional diced apple in the mold.

What we thought: Husband loved this, probably more than anything I've yet made.  I had four individual molds, and offered some to overnight guests who happened to be in town.  One, with a known dislike for all sweets including fruit, didn't care so much for it.  The other loved it.

I myself could have done without the apples.  Once I had a taste of savory, I wanted that taste only, which the apples interfered with. Maybe skip the apples in the mold and follow the suggestion to serve it with apple wedges. Or, maybe forego the bacon, to cut down on the saltiness and not create such a clash of flavors?  Though foregoing bacon is not in my nature.

To accompany the mold, I mixed up a couple of Lazy Man's Old-Fashioneds, from "Charleston Receipts", a copyright 1950 cookbook also scored at the antique shop. The recipe:

1 tsp. orange marmalade
3 dashes angostura bitters
1 finger light rum or whiskey
crushed ice to fill glass

Stir until it tastes right; add spirits, if necessary, to the result.

You can see in the photo that I veered from the instructions; I used two fingers of bourbon, and shook the concoction with ice so it could be served in a martini glass.  I also used cranberry-orange marmalade, because it's what I had in the fridge. I'm not going to rate the drink, because it's a drink. What's not to like?

Our Rating: Zero screaming husbands

(all dishes are rated from one to five Screaming Husbands. One Screaming Husband equals a happy home where all problems are solved during cocktail hour. Five Screaming Husbands signals the beginning of divorce proceedings.)