It’s A Cryin’ Shame Nobody Makes Things Like This Anymore.

It was the hit of Memorial Day: crab dip in the shape of a fish. Here is the recipe as given to me. I adjusted it, as seen below.


2 4-oz cans Bumble Bee baby shrimp, drained
2 8-oz packages of cream cheese, softened
1 10-3/4 oz can condensed tomato soup
2 pkgs Knox unflavored gelatin
½ cup warm water
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup Hellman’s mayonnaise (light or regular)

Dissolve gelatin in ¼ cup warm water. Heat tomato soup over low heat then blend in gelatin. Blend in cream cheese with a whisk or stick blender until creamy. Remove from heat, add mayo. Mix in celery, onion and shrimp. Pour into a mold that has been sprayed with Pam and refrigerate overnight.


I cut the recipe in half, but kept the protein quantity the same. I used two cans of crab instead of shrimp, added a generous tablespoon of lemon juice and a half-teaspoon of cayenne pepper to the final mix. Chop the vegetables very fine; use sweet or Vidalia onion, if available. Once unmolded, I dusted it with Old Bay seasoning.

Decoration included sliced olives and carrots chipped thin on a box grater for scales and fins. I’d fantasized about creating a layered fantail out of Italian parsley, but my sage plant is just so lush this year and full of new leaves. They looked great.

You could layer your “scales” or décor into the mold and spoon in the mixture carefully. Alternatively, decorate the unmolded shape the next day. I just knew I’d be short on time in the morning, and took care of things the night before.

The unmolding was, of course, ceremonious in my sister’s kitchen: My 4 year-old daughter ooohed and aahed. My sister raised an eyebrow, then cracked a smile and a laugh. I was proud in my own way, but let out a laugh too, then started in on the finishing touch of greenery. My brother-in-law dryly requested three colors of layered Jell-O for the 4th of July in the shape of an undulating flag. My mother looked at the fish and said, “Elise, you’re crazy.” But she’s the one who took the first taste.

What surprised me in the end was not just how little of the mold was left at the end of the day, but that no one ate the olive eyeball or cut off the head.

But that’s just me.

Maybe it’s because the fish stinks from the head.