Boiled salmon.
Ingredients:- 6 oz. of salt to each gallon of water, sufficient water to cover the fish.
Mode:- Scale & neat the fish, & be particular that no blood is left inside; lay it in the fish-kettle with sufficient icy water to cover it, adding salt in the above proportion. Bring it quickly to a boil, take off all the scum, & let it simmer gently till the fish is completed, which will be when the meat separates basically from the bone. Experience alone can teach the cook to fix the time for boiling fish; but it is to be recalled, that it ought to never be underdressed, as then nothing is more unwholesome. Neither let it stay in the kettle after it is sufficiently cooked, as that would render it insipid, watery, & colourless. Drain it, & if not wanted for a couple of minutes, keep it warm by means of warm cloths laid over it. Serve on a hot napkin, garnish with cut lemon & parsley, & send lobster or shrimp sauce, & plain melted butter to table with it. A dish of dressed cucumber usually accompanies this fish.
Time. 8 minutes to each lb. for large thick salmon; 6 minutes for narrow fish.
Note. Cut lemon ought to be put on the table with this fish; as well as a little of the juice squeezed over it is thought about by lots of persons a most agreeable addition. Boiled peas are also, by some connoisseurs, thought about adapted to be served with salmon.
Salmon & caper sauce.
Ingredients:- 2 slices of salmon, 1/4 lb. batter, 1/2 teaspoonful of chopped parsley, 1 shalot; salt, pepper, & grated nutmeg to taste.
Mode:- Lay the salmon in a baking-dish, place pieces of butter over it, & add the other ingredients, rubbing a little of the seasoning in to the fish; it frequently; when completed, take it out & drain for a minute or two; lay it in a dish, pour caper sauce over it, & serve. Salmon wearing this way, with tomato sauce, is appetizing.
Time. About 3/4 hour.
Collared salmon.
Ingredients:- A piece of salmon, say 3 lbs., a high seasoning of salt, pounded mace, & pepper; water & vinegar, 3 bay-leaves.
Mode:- Split the fish; scale, bone, & wash it thoroughly clean; wipe it, & rub in the seasoning inside & out; roll it up, & bind firmly; lay it in a kettle, cover it with vinegar & water (1/3 vinegar, in proportion to the water); add the bay-leaves as well as a nice seasoning of salt & whole pepper, & simmer till completed. Do not remove the lid. Serve with melted butter or anchovy sauce. For preserving the collared fish, boil up the liquor in which it was cooked, & add a little more vinegar. Pour over when icy.
Time. 3/4 hour, or more.
Curried salmon.
Ingredients:- Any remains of boiled salmon, 3/4 pint of strong or medium stock, 1 onion, 1 tablespoonful of curry-powder, 1 teaspoonful of Harvey’s sauce, 1 teaspoonful of anchovy sauce, 1 oz. of butter, the juice of 1/2 lemon, cayenne & salt to taste.
Mode:- Cut up the onions in to little pieces, & fry them of a pale brown in the butter; add all the ingredients but the salmon, & simmer gently till the onion is tender, occasionally stirring the contents; cut the salmon in to little square pieces, carefully take away all skin & bone, lay it in the stewpan, & let it gradually heat through; but do not license it to boil long.
Time. 3/4 hour.
Salmon cutlets.
Cut the slices 1 inch thick, & season them with pepper & salt; butter a sheet of white paper, lay each slice on a separate piece, with their ends twisted; broil gently over a clear fire, & serve with anchovy or caper sauce. When higher seasoning is necessary, add a few chopped herbs as well as a little spice.
Time. 5 to 10 minutes.
Salmon a la genevese.
Ingredients:- 2 slices of salmon, 2 chopped shalots, a little parsley, a little bunch of herbs, 2 bay-leaves, 2 carrots, pounded mace, pepper & salt to taste, 4 tablespoonfuls of Madeira, 1/2 pint of white stock, thickening of butter & flour, 1 teaspoonful of essence of anchovies, the juice of 1 lemon, cayenne & salt to taste.
Mode:- Rub the bottom of a stewpan over with butter, & put in the shalots, herbs, bay-leaves, carrots, mace, & seasoning; stir them for 10 minutes over a clear fire, & add the Madeira or sherry; simmer gently for 1/2 hour, & strain through a sieve over the fish, which stew in this gravy. As soon as the fish is sufficiently cooked, take away all the liquor, except a little to keep the salmon damp, & put it in to another stewpan; add the stock, thicken with butter & flour, & put in the anchovies, lemon-juice, cayenne, & salt; lay the salmon on a hot dish, pour over it part of the sauce, & serve the remainder in a tureen.
Time. 1-1/4 hour.