Jane Grigson's Fish Book Part 17

The deliberate flavour of red mullet is well set off by mushrooms. In the autumn, try the dish with ceps or girolles: use them on their own, or with cultivated mushrooms, weighing them when prepared as there can be a fair amount of waste.

Serves 63 large mullet or or 6 medium-sized mullet, scaled, cleaned 6 medium-sized mullet, scaled, cleanedsalt, pepper125 g (4 oz) chopped onion4 tablespoons b.u.t.ter375 g (12 oz) mushrooms, chopped60 g (2 oz) breadcrumbsleaves of 1 handful of parsley, choppedlemon wedges Preheat the oven to gas 5, 190C (3750F).

Season the cavities of the mullet with salt and pepper and replace the livers. Grease an ovenproof gratin dish large enough to hold the mullet in a single layer with a b.u.t.ter paper.

Cook the onion until soft in the b.u.t.ter, without browning it. Add the mushrooms, cooking them slowly until the juices run: if you use wild mushrooms, you may need at this point to turn up the heat to evaporate excessive wateriness. Aim to end up with a moist rather than a wet result.

Stir in the breadcrumbs and plenty of parsley. Spread out in the gratin dish and put the mullet on top. Bake for 2030 minutes, or until cooked.

If you have three mullet, it helps with the serving to fillet the fish and lay the six halves skin side up on the breadcrumb base.

Tuck the lemon wedges between the fish and serve.

ROUGETS BARBETS a LA BOURGUIGNONNE.

In southern France, red mullet are sometimes wrapped in vine leaves before being grilled. In this recipe from Burgundy, they are wrapped in vine leaves and stuffed with grapes before being baked. The sauce is a variation of beurre blanc*, using a reduction of white wine and the juices, with shallots, as the base. If you don't have access to a vine, you will find packets of the leaves in brine at a delicatessen. Soak them to reduce the saltiness: only blanch them if they are not supple enough to bend round the fish without breaking.

Serves 66 mullet of medium size, scaled, cleanedsalt, pepper375 g (12 oz) white grapes, skinned, halved, seeded12 vine leaves, blanched 30 seconds250 ml (8fl oz) Chablis or other dry white wine4 tablespoons finely chopped shallot4 tablespoons creme fraiche or or double cream double cream175 g (6 oz) unsalted b.u.t.ter, diced Preheat the oven to gas 7, 220C (425F).

Season the mullet with salt and pepper, put back the livers into each cavity with some grape halves. Wrap two vine leaves round each fish. Put them closely together in an ovenproof dish, so that the leaves do not unwrap. Pour in a little of the wine, cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes or until done. Keep warm.

As the fish cook, boil down the remaining wine and the shallots in a shallow pan until you are left with 3 or 4 tablespoons of moist puree. Add the juices from cooking the fish plus the cream and boil down again by half. Let the reduction cool slightly, then whisk in the b.u.t.ter, keeping the pan off the heat so that there is no chance of the b.u.t.ter oiling. Add the remaining grapes. Reheat cautiously, check for seasoning. Put the fish on separate plates or one large dish and pour the sauce round.

SURMULETS AUX AUBERGINES.

Aubergines or egg plants go well with certain fish, ones that have a p.r.o.nounced flavour like red mullet, but they need a little tomato as a go-between.

Serves 63 large mullet or or 6 medium-sized mullet 6 medium-sized mulletsalt, pepper23 long aubergines1 medium onion, chopped fineolive oil500 g (1 lb) tomatoes, skinned, seeded, chopped1 large clove garlic, chopped fine1 level teaspoon sugar (optional)cayenne pepper125 ml (4 fl oz) dry white wine or or 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar 1 tablespoon sherry vinegarup to 250 ml (8 fl oz) fish, veal or poultry stockbouquet garni, basil, coriander or chervil Preheat the oven to gas 7, 220C (425F). Season the cavities of the fish and put back the livers.

Slice the aubergines, unpeeled, so that you get 30 slices plus a couple to act as tasters (use up the rounded ends in another dish). Blanch them for 2 minutes in boiling salted water, then drain and dry them on kitchen paper.

Make a tomato puree by softening the onion in a minimum of oil in a wide pan over a low heat, then adding tomato and garlic. Cook fast and briefly so that you end up with a coherent and unwatery but fresh-tasting ma.s.s of tomato; check for seasoning and add the sugar as well as some cayenne if it needs livening up.

Spread out the aubergine slices on an oiled baking tray and put a mound of tomato on top of each. Slide into the top of the oven. Check after 10 minutes. Be prepared to give longer.

Brush out a baking dish that will accommodate the mullet closely with olive oil. Lay the fish in it, put in wine or vinegar and enough stock to bring the liquid level just a little way up the fish, about cm ( inch). Add the bouquet and put the fish into the centre of the oven for 2030 minutes, or until just cooked. Pour off and reduce the cooking liquor to a little syrupy sauce.

TO EAT HOT Fillet the larger fish and put them on to a hot serving platter, surrounded by the aubergine slices. Or arrange on individual plates. Pour a little of the sauce over the aubergine slices, as a seasoning, and round the fish. You can, if you like, turn it into a richer sauce by whisking in b.u.t.ter at the last minute, but to my thinking this spoils the simplicity of the dish. Put a light sprinkle of chopped basil or coriander over the dish. Fillet the larger fish and put them on to a hot serving platter, surrounded by the aubergine slices. Or arrange on individual plates. Pour a little of the sauce over the aubergine slices, as a seasoning, and round the fish. You can, if you like, turn it into a richer sauce by whisking in b.u.t.ter at the last minute, but to my thinking this spoils the simplicity of the dish. Put a light sprinkle of chopped basil or coriander over the dish.

TO EAT COLD Bring the fish out of the oven when it is barely cooked, since it will continue to cook in its own heat. Let it cool, then fillet the larger fish. Pour the reduced sauce over the hot aubergine slices, then allow them to cool. Serve the two together as above, sprinkled with basil or chervil, or coriander if you are addicted to it (I like it best with hot food, but you may not agree). Bring the fish out of the oven when it is barely cooked, since it will continue to cook in its own heat. Let it cool, then fillet the larger fish. Pour the reduced sauce over the hot aubergine slices, then allow them to cool. Serve the two together as above, sprinkled with basil or chervil, or coriander if you are addicted to it (I like it best with hot food, but you may not agree).

Red mullet andalouse The sauce andalouse*, with its flavouring of sweet peppers, goes well with plainly grilled red mullet. By extension, red peppers on their own, or mixed in with tomato cooked as in the recipe above, show off its flavour, too.

RED SNAPPER see see A FEW WORDS ABOUT... A FEW WORDS ABOUT... RED SNAPPER RED SNAPPER RIGG see see A FEW WORDS ABOUT... A FEW WORDS ABOUT... DOGFISH DOGFISH ROCK TURBOT see see A FEW WORDS ABOUT... A FEW WORDS ABOUT... CATFISH CATFISH

SALMON & SALMON TROUT Salmo salar, Onchorhynchus spp & spp & Salmo trutta Salmo trutta [image]

Salmon is, to man at least, the king of the fish. Much of its life history is unknown and mysterious. Its taste is so fastidious that it can only survive in pure waters (the appearance or disappearance of salmon is a barometer of a river's pollution).

The salmon is one of those anadromous fish, like eel and shad, which spend most of their lives in seawater, yet return to the rivers, mainly to the rivers of their birth, to sp.a.w.n. And to be caught. The tiny salmon is called a fingerling, then a parr until it leaves the river at anything from one to three years old. After that the salmon are known as smolt. From this point they disappear completely until their return, either a year later as grilse, weight up to 3 kg (6 lb), or up to three years later as large and handsome salmon weighing up to 15 kg (30 lb) or more. The grilse are often of a size to be confused with salmon trout and large brown trout; not that this need bother the cook, as similar recipes are suitable for all three.

The difference in size, and development, and age of the returning fish has puzzled the scientists. Obviously some salmon go much farther away into the Atlantic to feed. But why? And where? One answer to the second question was discovered in the last part of the 1950s. A US nuclear submarine, cruising below the ice between Greenland and Baffin Island, 'spotted thousands and thousands of fish hanging like silver icicles from the underside of the pack', feeding on the rich plankton. Luckily no one has yet discovered where the grilse feed, which must obviously be much nearer the coasts of Europe. By the time they do, let us hope there is adequate legislation to preserve them from the intensive greedy fishing which has threatened the survival of salmon off the west of Greenland.

But whether grilse, or larger salmon who have made the long journey from the other side of the Atlantic, most of them return to their native rivers. Exactly how is another mystery. They gather in the waters of the estuary, fine fat fish in prime condition, and make their way upstream, sometimes with those immense leaps that have given the salmon the name of salar salar, the leaper, Salmo salar Salmo salar.

From the moment they enter the sweet water, they eat nothing until they return to the sea again. Which means, to the cook, that the sooner they are caught the better. A spent kelt which is managing to get back to the sea many of them die is a dish for n.o.body.

The universal feeling in Europe, and perhaps beyond, is that Scottish salmon is the best. Salmon from the Tweed, perhaps. Someone told me that he arrived at a small hotel near Berwick some years ago and had to stumble his way across the hall floor which was covered with salmon, thirty, forty, even a hundred. Not that he minded picking his way round, trying not to slip, not at all. Salmon for dinner he thought happily, as he checked in and went upstairs. Salmon for dinner he thought, as he washed and changed and made a slow journey downstairs to the dining-room. 'Well,' said the waitress, when she had settled him down, 'what'll it be? Lamb or chicken?'

'But what about salmon? All that salmon in the hall?'

'Oh that that. It's going down to London by the night train.'

And that kind of salmon, pink and curdy, precious, occasional, was the standard one judged by. There were other sorts of salmon about, frozen Canadian, useful for fishcakes. Then there was canned salmon of the north country high tea and the larder standby for a souffle or mousse. Canned salmon has strange romantic names on the label, which mystified me for years chinook and coho, sockeye and chum. What could they mean? Now I know that chinook and coho are the best Pacific salmon, and that springtime chinook from the Copper River in Alaska may well equal Scottish salmon if you eat it fresh on the spot. Chum salmon is the least fat of these salmon, and so the least good of the canned ones. But there again, confusion as quality also depends on the state of the salmon when it is caught and canned. General good advice is to stick to a brand that you find satisfactory. I remember a tasting of canned salmon about six years ago. Considering the price, none of them was much good. I imagine that with so much farm salmon around, at low prices, sales of canned salmon must drop.

Farming, or aquaculture, is the new thing in salmon. One can see the point and importance of it. The system is a good idea. Judging by the disastrous trout farming industry in Britain, it is the people who run the system who are not always a good idea. They are after fast growth and the quick buck, the spiv mentality, fine for a ten-year bonanza (if that, judging by the disappearance of trout farms in some areas).

Will this happen to farm salmon? I would think not.1 For a start the whole enterprise is bigger, needs more capital, more planning. And there is the high standard already set by Norway. For a start the whole enterprise is bigger, needs more capital, more planning. And there is the high standard already set by Norway.

A few years ago, we went to Bergen to see the salmon farming there. We had already come across a good deal of Norwegian salmon in local markets in France. It was good when fresh. The smoked sides tend to be bright pink and coa.r.s.e in flavour although there are excellent smokers supplying the best shops and restaurants, their skills do not seem to reach provincial sales but that is not the salmon's fault or the salmon farmer's. In Bergen, we were in the capable hands of Mr Mowinkle. He had inherited a jam factory when he was still quite young, a modest affair. Jam, I gather, did not appeal to him very much. He set off round Germany, because it was the richest country in Europe, to see whether he couldn't discover something that German chefs would like to have that he could produce, something that was in short or capricious supply. Salmon was the answer, high quality salmon.

Mr Mowinkle took off in a small way, then grew bigger and bigger. Now up and down the west coast of Norway, he has tucked netted pens of salmon into grooves and inlets of the low grey rocky sh.o.r.e. They are fed judicious mixtures of fish pounded into a feed with krill (the tiny crustacea that it contains is what keeps the salmon an elegant pink, a colour that in Scottish farms is supplied by cathaxanthin often with horrible garish results that make a reasonably discriminating buyer wary). Mr Mowinkle's salmon are carefully handled, laid into boxes of crushed ice for their journeys to Europe and North America, even to j.a.pan so high is the quality. And each salmon is tagged at the gills with the grey MOWI MOWI mark. I wish this system would be adopted here, then if one buys a salmon one particularly likes, a pleasant experience has a good chance of being repeated. mark. I wish this system would be adopted here, then if one buys a salmon one particularly likes, a pleasant experience has a good chance of being repeated.

Farm salmon of this quality is indeed difficult to distinguish from the wild kind. Often it can be better. For a start, the handling of the fish is more careful, and an autumn farm salmon can be as good as a spring farm salmon, which is not the case with wild fish. In other words, the reliable quality can make up for the less subtle flavour. Outwardly, there is little difference to the casual eye. If you look more carefully, you see that a farm salmon is stubbier, not as streamlined and slender as the salmon which has battled through the seas on long journeys: the tail too is not as vigorously developed on account of its lazier life. When it comes to tasting, if you shut your eyes you may well find it difficult to tell the difference. I should not like to stake my life on getting it right. Once you open your eyes, of course, and see that mind-blasting colour compared with the gentle milky pink of the best wild salmon, you may feel more certain of knowing which is which.

Whenever I get the chance, I buy salmon trout alias sea trout alias (in Wales) sewin, preferably when they are about 60 cm (2 feet) long. The choice of names is confusing, since there are many more in Britain and the States beyond these three phinock, gillaroo, Galway or Orkney sea trout, orange fin, black tail or fin, bull trout and seal, brown trout all referring to the same species. For many people, it is the finest river fish, just as sole is the supreme fish of the seas.

There is an effort being made to reduce this nomenclature to sea trout, but when I tried this out at the fishmonger's I was met with a blank stare. Salmon Salmon trout, ah yes! I am sure that this name will stick because it describes so well the excellence of trout, ah yes! I am sure that this name will stick because it describes so well the excellence of Salmo trutta Salmo trutta which combines the good qualities of salmon and trout, and is better than either. It may be no more than a sea-going variety of our native brown trout, but there is a difference in flavour. The pink flesh is firm, without the salmon's tendency to dry up, and the tidy disposition of the flakes most happily resembles the trout's. As it weighs 2 kg (14 lb), it is the ideal fish for a small dinner or lunch party in the spring and midsummer. Worth saving up for. which combines the good qualities of salmon and trout, and is better than either. It may be no more than a sea-going variety of our native brown trout, but there is a difference in flavour. The pink flesh is firm, without the salmon's tendency to dry up, and the tidy disposition of the flakes most happily resembles the trout's. As it weighs 2 kg (14 lb), it is the ideal fish for a small dinner or lunch party in the spring and midsummer. Worth saving up for.

Mrs Bobby Freeman, who writes about Welsh food and ran the Compton House Hotel at Fishguard some years ago, was famous for her Welsh specialities at a time when everyone else in the princ.i.p.ality was still engulfed in Windsor Brown Soup and prawn c.o.c.ktail. She always cooked and served sewin 'in the local way, i.e. simply and gently grilled, with salty b.u.t.ter, and rough brown bread. The rough texture of the local brown bread contrasts marvellously with the smooth delicate texture of the fish. We advise people to put lots of the salty b.u.t.ter on the hot flesh as they work through the fish as this brings out the delicate flavour best of all.'

Sometimes she served a cuc.u.mber sauce (bechamel flavoured with a puree of peeled, steamed cuc.u.mber). Rich and highly-flavoured sauces will not do for sewin, she feels, and the cooking must be simple: 'I once baked a biggish sewin with one or two fresh sage leaves and a thin strip of lemon rind along its inside, and it ruined it.'

HOW TO CHOOSE AND PREPARE SALMON.

Children are coloured indelibly, it seems, by their mother's expertise or lack of it in choosing food. Conversations with butcher, baker, nurseryman, are picked up by a pair of ears at counter level and stored in the infant lumber room. So when I came to buy salmon in my turn, I found myself echoing my mother's words: 'The tailpiece, please.' In restaurants, at weddings and parties, I have often eaten the middle cut with pleasure, but when I have to put my own money down on the fishmonger's counter, it is the moister and better-flavoured tailpiece that I buy. The lower price (bargaining advisable) compensates for the higher proportion of bone to flesh.

Instead of a piece of salmon, you might think of buying a whole fish grilse and salmon trout come in handy sizes for a small party, grilse up to 3 kg (6 lb), salmon trout up to 2 kg (4 lb). Nowadays salmon is sold in long fillets as well as in the more familiar steaks. You will notice that farm salmon tends to be fatter, which makes it ideal for grilling.

Recipes for salmon and salmon trout are interchangeable (except of course where 1 kg/2 lb of middle-cut is required, which can only be provided by salmon, as even the biggest salmon trout are no more than 2 kg/4 lb in all). Especially in some of the new recipes, quite small escalopes are required which can come equally well from both.

The problem with Salmo salar Salmo salar and his relations is that although they are rich and therefore filling they also have a tendency to dryness. In the past this has been balanced mainly by unctuous sauces made with egg yolk, b.u.t.ter, cream, and by crisp salads of cuc.u.mber or sharp sorrel purees and sauces. In the last twenty years, chefs and cooks have concentrated on not overcooking the fish in the first place, in applying heat so that the salmon sets in the centre rather than cooks to the opaque, flaky style of the old days. The new taste for eating salmon 'cooked' by other means, citrus juices or vinegar or salt and sugar cures, means that we have come to expect a new freshness in salmon. and his relations is that although they are rich and therefore filling they also have a tendency to dryness. In the past this has been balanced mainly by unctuous sauces made with egg yolk, b.u.t.ter, cream, and by crisp salads of cuc.u.mber or sharp sorrel purees and sauces. In the last twenty years, chefs and cooks have concentrated on not overcooking the fish in the first place, in applying heat so that the salmon sets in the centre rather than cooks to the opaque, flaky style of the old days. The new taste for eating salmon 'cooked' by other means, citrus juices or vinegar or salt and sugar cures, means that we have come to expect a new freshness in salmon.

When you prepare the salmon, you should first scale it. Clean out the cavity, saving any roe, especially the hard roe (see Caviare). If you have the head removed, save it for soup and stock. Caviare). If you have the head removed, save it for soup and stock.

HOW TO DEAL WITH A WHOLE SALMON.

One of my most persistent early memories of Three Choirs Festival at Gloucester is, I am ashamed to say, not the music but the spectacle of a whole boiled salmon, a large one, consumed at a luncheon party. It came from the Severn or Wye, and tasted glorious. The cooking of it must have been agony.

Salmon these days seem to be smaller, or at least only the smaller ones seem to be sold in one piece. Larger sizes go for steaks and fillets. And in spite of the perfection of that great salmon, fifty years ago, I would rather prepare three 2-kg (4-lb) grilse salmon for a party, than one salmon at 6 kg (12 lb). My feeling is that the smaller ones taste better, and make for easier serving as well.

Since the point of the following methods is to keep the flavours of the salmon inside the salmon, they are only suitable for wild salmon and the very best farmed salmon. Lower quality fish needs purifying, as it were, by fire: open it up, season and/or marinade it in advance and grill it as in the next recipe. That is the only way to transform the flat river-bottom taste and the soft mushy texture into something worth eating.

If the salmon is too long for the fish kettle or oven, cut off the head and cook it separately (or keep it for soup). When dishing it up, the separation can be disguised by a ruff or parsley, or bay or cuc.u.mber.

METHOD 1: With a Fish Kettle Builders and architects make kitchens too small: equipment manufacturers collude by making pans and machines too small. They have a picture of dolls cooking in a doll's kitchen. Break out and buy a fish kettle. You will find it surprisingly useful for other things.

Keep the measurements of the fish kettle in your head when you buy a salmon, which you should have cleaned and scaled by the fishmonger.

Fill the kettle half-full of water. In it, dissolve 175 g (6 oz) coa.r.s.e salt for every 2 litres (4 pt). Salting at this strength, which is even stronger than seawater, has an excellent effect on fish without spoiling its flavour. You can make up a court bouillon* if you like wine, vinegar, vegetables, aromatics but I now conclude that there is no point in it. A good salmon keeps more of its good flavour when cooked in brine.

Put the fish on to the strainer tray and lower it into the kettle. Put a long dish or board on top to keep it submerged. Add extra water and salt, if need be, to cover it.

Place the kettle across two burners on the stove.

TO EAT HOT Suspend a thermometer in the pan. Switch on the heat and bring the water to 65C (150F). Make sure it never goes above 80C (175F) while the salmon cooks: if it shows signs of doing so, and you cannot make a swift adjustment to the burners, pour in a little cold water. Suspend a thermometer in the pan. Switch on the heat and bring the water to 65C (150F). Make sure it never goes above 80C (175F) while the salmon cooks: if it shows signs of doing so, and you cannot make a swift adjustment to the burners, pour in a little cold water.

a.s.suming the fish to be about 5 cm (2 inches) thick, give it 15 minutes at this temperature. Raise the strainer tray, rest it across the pan and pull out a bit of the back fin: it should come away with a little tug. To a.s.sure yourself of the cooking, explore the cavity with the aid of a pointed knife. If it is still transparent at the centre, give it longer in the water.

TO EAT WARM Bring the pan to boiling point, one good bubble, then put on the lid, remove the pan from the stove, but keep it in a warm place. Leave 10 minutes, then test as above. Bring the pan to boiling point, one good bubble, then put on the lid, remove the pan from the stove, but keep it in a warm place. Leave 10 minutes, then test as above.

TO EAT COLD Bring the pan to boiling point, one good bubble, at the most two, then put on the lid, remove the pan to the larder or somewhere cool and leave until you can comfortably put your hands in the water and pull out a back fin. In theory, you can leave the salmon until it is quite cold, but it can be overcooked. Bring the pan to boiling point, one good bubble, at the most two, then put on the lid, remove the pan to the larder or somewhere cool and leave until you can comfortably put your hands in the water and pull out a back fin. In theory, you can leave the salmon until it is quite cold, but it can be overcooked.

METHOD 2: With Foil If you have a really fine salmon and require its juices to serve as sauce, or to add to a sauce, you should wrap the fish in foil before following any of the above cooking methods.

To do this, cut a piece of heavy freezer foil that will be large enough to enclose the salmon in a baggy parcel. Lay it on the table and brush with melted b.u.t.ter if the salmon is to be eaten hot, or with oil if it is to be eaten cold (b.u.t.ter would congeal in unappetizing blobs).

Make two straps of folded foil and put them across the narrow width of the large piece. Brush them with b.u.t.ter or oil. Lay the salmon across them, positioning them so that when the cooked salmon is transferred to a serving dish, they will take the weight at its heftiest parts. Bring up the sides of the foil.

Season the salmon well, pour on a gla.s.s of wine, add herbs with discretion and a squeeze of lemon. Fold the straps over the fish, then fasten the large piece tightly into a loose parcel. Ease on to the strainer tray and cover with plain water (no salt). Put a dish or board on top to keep the parcel submerged.

Cook as outlined in method 1.

Unwrap the fish, lift it on to a serving dish with the help of the straps (and, if possible, a helper who will make sure the tail does not crack or break).

Pour off the juices directly into a hot jug if you want to serve them simply as they are (taste for seasoning). Or into a pan to make sauce Bercy*.

METHOD 3: Baked in Foil The advantages of this method are obvious if you haven't got a fish kettle. In theory, it should be just as good as the fish kettle methods, and I think it is for smaller fish the 500750 g (11 lb) size. Larger ones seem to work better when submerged in water, as above.

Wrap the fish in foil as above no need for the straps when the fish are 1 kg (2 lb) or under. If it is too long for your oven, cut off the head and wrap it in foil in a separate parcel: the two pieces can be reunited with a concealing ruff of parsley or bay or cuc.u.mber.

Preheat the over to gas 7, 220C (425F). Check on a 12 kg (3-4 lb) fish after 20 minutes.

When cooking a salmon in the oven, you may wish to stuff it for eating hot. Try a cuc.u.mber stuffing (p. 183) or the mushroom stuffing on p. 184 p. 184. With farmed salmon, you could try adding sharper ingredients to a breadcrumb stuffing, chopped olives, capers or anchovies for instance. Whatever you decide to use, keep it clear in flavour rather than spicy.

SAUCES.

With hot salmon, melted b.u.t.ter can be enough, or the b.u.t.tery wine juices from a salmon cooked in foil. Any of the cream* and b.u.t.ter* sauces are an obvious choice, because although salmon is rich, it is also a little dry in tone: hollandaise* or one of its derivatives comes in very nicely, and with new potatoes and asparagus, it may not be a very original dish but it is hard to beat. Sorrel* or rediscovered samphire* also make a good sauce for salmon.

For cold salmon, mayonnaise* obviously. Heaven knows a proper mayonnaise is rare enough. Try Montpellier b.u.t.ter* as a change, especially if you are a gardener.

PRESENTATION.

In high cla.s.s cookery, salmon and salmon trout are invariably served without their skin if they are to be eaten cold. This is practical. It is also practical, after removing the skin, to go one further and remove the bones. This is done by raising the top part of the fish only for the neat-fingered and turning it over on to a long serving dish. The bone is removed from the underneath part of the fish, which is then placed boned side down on top of the first part, so that the salmon is then restored to its usual form. Put the head back.

At this point, the professional caterer will mask the salmon with a chaudfroid (jellied mayonnaise*) and decorative motifs from the higher kitsch of catering. That is his fun, but it does not have to be ours. It has its practical side, of course, in that the salmon can be dressed up like Tom Kitten hours in advance, without drying up. When you run a business, that is a perfectly proper and decent precaution to take.

A simpler way, that the neat-fingered can undertake, is to brush the skinned and filleted fish with aspic and cover it with transparent half-moons of small unpeeled cuc.u.mber, to look like scales. A friend of mine does them like this, and they are a joy to behold. They have a debonair, frilled appearance like a brushed child at the beginning of a party.

My own preference is to leave the salmon alone, removing the skin and bone for the sake of easy serving, and putting a line of sprigs of fennel or dill or tarragon, whatever is appropriate or best in the garden, down the lateral line. Or else a bed or garland of herbs.

There is much to be said for cuc.u.mber salad with cold salmon. A reader once took me to task for suggesting that one might try salting the cuc.u.mber slices first: he said that the crisp fresh slices of recently cut cuc.u.mber were just right with salmon. You must take your choice.

When it comes to cuc.u.mber with salmon, I prefer them both hot or at least warm. The cuc.u.mber cut longways into slices, or into little batons, and quickly heated through in clarified b.u.t.ter*, then well peppered.

Florentine fennel, blanched and finished in b.u.t.ter, still a little crisp, is another good vegetable with the best salmon. A hint of pastis can be added to the sauce, but very little.

CAVEACH OF SALMON.

This way of treating salmon is more like a seviche (p. 348) than a true caveach which consists of frying fish and then pickling it in vinegar but one can see the attraction of the name and why Kenneth Ball used it to, as it were, domesticate, or anglicize, this really very foreign dish for his menu at Thornbury Castle. What I like about it especially is his manner of cutting the salmon into thin steaks. Marinaded fish of this type is usually presented in transparent veils this cut is closer to the j.a.panese sashimi style.

Serves 810750 g (1 lb) centre cut of salmon175 ml (6 fl oz) dry white wine1 tablespoon salt teaspoon ground black pepperjuice of 1 lemonjuice of 1 orange medium onion, finely chopped clove garlic, finely chopped to a mash4 tablespoons very best olive oilshreds of orange and lemon peel, 1620 slices of avocado pear and a few leaves of chicory or endive to garnish Half-chill the salmon, remove the fillets from each side of the backbone and skin them. Cut each fillet down into slices of just over cm ( inch). Arrange them in a single layer in a shallow plastic box or on a large plate.

Mix together the remaining ingredients, apart from the garnish, and pour over the salmon. Cover with the lid or plastic film and leave in the refrigerator for 5 hours, turning the slices every so often. If you want to keep the salmon for longer, I find it is best to sc.r.a.pe off the onion and garlic after 6 or 7 hours, put the salmon on to a fresh plate and strain a little of the marinade over it.

Arrange the slices on a dish or plates with the garnish ingredients. Serve very cold but not chilled to tastelessness.

ESCALOPE OF COLD SALMON MAiTRE ALBERT.

Anjou is a country of just the right douceur douceur to have produced that good king, Rene, Count of Anjou and Provence, King of Sicily. In warlike times, he loved painting and music and tapestries (in particular the Apocalypse tapestries now on display in his castle of Angers), and his two wives adored him. The hotel at Les Rosiers on the Loire is called after his second wife, Jeanne de Laval, and there, in the long quiet dining-room, one may eat the most delicious fish and seafood imaginable. The natural advantages of Loire and Atlantic are submitted to the skill of French cookery in the person of Monsieur Augerau, the proprietor, 'Maitre Albert', who invented this summer dish. to have produced that good king, Rene, Count of Anjou and Provence, King of Sicily. In warlike times, he loved painting and music and tapestries (in particular the Apocalypse tapestries now on display in his castle of Angers), and his two wives adored him. The hotel at Les Rosiers on the Loire is called after his second wife, Jeanne de Laval, and there, in the long quiet dining-room, one may eat the most delicious fish and seafood imaginable. The natural advantages of Loire and Atlantic are submitted to the skill of French cookery in the person of Monsieur Augerau, the proprietor, 'Maitre Albert', who invented this summer dish.

One hears so often that it was the Troisgros brothers who brought salmon escalopes and sorrel together at Roanne: Monsieur Augerau was making such a dish a generation before them. The style is a little different the Troisgros escalopes are beaten flat, cooked briefly in a non-stick pan and then served on a cream and b.u.t.ter sauce flavoured with sorrel and made on a reduction of shallot, white wine, vermouth and fish fumet*.

Serves 61 kg (2 lb) middle cut of salmonb.u.t.tershallots or mild onion250 kg (8 oz) mushrooms, chopped bottle dry white wine3 large tablespoons double cream2 large egg yolks125 g (4 oz) unsalted b.u.t.ter1 large handful of sorrelsalt, freshly ground black pepper Ask the fishmonger to skin and fillet the salmon. Cut it into slices about cm ( inch) thick. b.u.t.ter a large shallow pan and cover the base with a layer of chopped shallots. Put in the slices of salmon, slightly overlapping each other, and scatter the mushrooms on top. Pour on enough white wine to cover. Bring to the boil and simmer until the salmon is barely cooked. Transfer the slices to a serving dish, cover with foil and keep warm. Add the cream to the mixture in which the salmon was cooked. Boil hard, until the liquid is reduced by approximately one-third. Strain into a small pan, and whisk the egg yolks into the tepid liquid, which should be kept over a low heat not enough to cause it to boil. When the sauce is thick, lift the pan from the heat and stir in the b.u.t.ter in little k.n.o.bs.

Meanwhile, in another pan cook the sorrel in 2 tablespoons of b.u.t.ter. It will rapidly turn to a thick puree. Season well with salt and pepper. Add the puree to the sauce, pour it over the warm salmon slices and chill as quickly as possible in the refrigerator.

NOTE Cold fish tastes better when it is eaten the day it is cooked. This is a recipe that could be used for firm white fish of good flavour. And it could be served hot but cold is better. Cold fish tastes better when it is eaten the day it is cooked. This is a recipe that could be used for firm white fish of good flavour. And it could be served hot but cold is better.

GRAVADLAX, MAKRILL, FORELL, SILL.

In other words, marinaded salmon, mackerel, trout or herring, and one of the great gifts of Scandinavia to the rest of Europe. When I first came across it in 1966 in Denmark, it seemed to me the most delicious thing I had ever eaten. And when the friend at whose table we had eaten it said she would give me the very simple recipe, I could hardly believe that it was going to be possible to make it at home, and with other fish than salmon.

The name means 'buried salmon'. Indeed, the fish is buried in salt, sugar and dill weed, but perhaps the name may refer to far older ways of preserving food than we know about today to the time when food was buried to keep it fresh, or to make a cure work in a special way, though I cannot imagine how one would prevent it being devoured by wildlife: salmon is a spring and summer catch after all, so the ground would not be frozen.

The sensible minimum especially since it can be frozen most successfully is a i-kg (2-lb) piece of salmon, scaled and filleted, but with the skin left in place. The cure for this quant.i.ty consists of: 1 tablespoon coa.r.s.e sea salt12 tablespoons sugar1 handful of fresh dill sprigs or or 1 tablespoon dried dill weed 1 tablespoon dried dill weed The quant.i.ty of sugar can be varied to taste. Extra items can be added from plenty of coa.r.s.ely ground pepper to a tablespoonful of brandy. Mix the salt and sugar together, plus 1 tablespoon of leaves from fresh dill or dried dill weed.