800—Cold Salmon

When salmon is to be served cold it should, as far as possible, be cooked, either whole or in large pieces, in the court-bouillon given under No. 163, Court-bouillon with Vinegar and cooled in the latter. Pieces cooked separately may seem better or may be more easily made to look sightly, but their meat is drier than that of the salmon cooked whole. And what is lost in appearance with the very large pieces is more than compensated for by their extra quality.

In dishing cold salmon the skin may be removed and the fillets bared, so that the fish may be more easily decorated, but the real gourmet will always prefer the salmon served in its natural silver vestment.

In decorating cold salmon use pieces of cucumber, anchovy fillets, capers, slices of tomato, curled-leaf parsley, &c.

I am not partial to the decorating of salmon with softened butter, coloured or not, laid on by means of the piping-bag. Apart from the fact that this method of decoration is rarely artistic, the butter used combines badly with the cold sauces and the meat of the salmon on the diner’s plate. Very green tarragon leaves, chervil, lobster coral, &c., afford a more natural and more delicate means of ornamentation. The only butter fit to be served with cold salmon is Montpellier butter (No. 153, Montpellier Butter), though this, in fact, is but a cold sauce often resorted to for the coating of the cold fish in question.

Among the garnishes which suit cold salmon, I might mention small peeled, and emptied tomatoes garnished with some kind of salad; hard-boiled eggs, either wholly stuffed, or stuffed in halves or in quarters, No. 314, Barquettes, tartlets and cassolettes made from cucumber or beetroot, parboiled until almost completely cooked and garnished with a purée of tunny, of sardines, of anchovies, &c.; small aspics of shrimps or of crayfishes’ tails; small slices of lobster, &c.

Almost all the cold sauces may accompany cold salmon.