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BRAISED SALMON À L’AMÉRICAINE

Here we are back to an old friend, sauce à l’Américaine (page 28), which, except for Hollandaise, is probably the greatest fish sauce in the world.

Prepare one recipe of shrimp à l’Américaine (see page 456) and let it stand for an hour or so. Meanwhile prepare braised salmon in white wine as in the preceding recipe. When the salmon is cooked, remove it to a hot platter and surround it with the shrimp à l’Américaine. This dish is sometimes served with the Hollandaise sauce or the white wine sauce from the pan juices, but to my taste it actually doesn’t need anything in addition to the sauce à l’Américaine.

Be sure to serve rice with this.

PAPRIKA SALMON

1 tablespoon paprika

Flour

4 salmon steaks

Salt

6 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup white wine

11/2 cups sour cream

Mix a little paprika with the flour and dip the salmon steaks in the mixture. Sauté them quickly in butter according to the Canadian cooking theory (page 10). Season with salt. Remove the steaks to a hot platter. Add the wine to the pan, stir it around to mix well, and let it cook down to 1/4 cup. Add the sour cream and additional paprika, blending it well, and heat through, but do not let it boil. Taste for seasoning and pour over the salmon steaks. Serve with rice.

NEW ENGLAND BOILED SALMON IN EGG SAUCE

There is a tradition in classic New England cuisine that the Fourth of July opens the season for eating new potatoes, new peas, and summer salmon. The new potatoes must be the small ones, cooked in boiling water until just tender, then drenched with butter, salt, pepper, and a fine sprinkling of chopped parsley. The peas are smothered in wet lettuce leaves, with a large lump of butter, and cooked just long enough to make them tender without dulling their brilliant green. The salmon:

4 to 6 pounds salmon

Salt

3 peppercorns

1 bay leaf

2 slices lemon

Egg Sauce

2 cups sauce béchamel (page 23)

2 hard-cooked eggs

Garnish

Lemon slices

Parsley

Wash the salmon and wrap it in a piece of cheesecloth or folded strip of foil, leaving the ends long enough so that you can easily lift it in and out of the pan. Heat 2 to 3 quarts of water mixed with salt and the other seasonings. Bring it to the boiling point and let it boil for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat until the water is barely simmering, add the salmon, and simmer it for 15 to 20 minutes. It generally takes 6 to 8 minutes per pound. Do not overcook it or it will be mushy.

Serve the salmon with egg sauce made by mixing coarsely chopped hard-cooked eggs with the sauce béchamel. If you like it that way, make your béchamel with some of the fish stock. Garnish the platter with lemon slices and parsley.

POACHED SALMON WITH VARIOUS SAUCES

Poach any salmon, from 1 pound to an entire fish, in any of the court bouillons listed on pages 18–20, allowing 10 minutes cooking time per inch of thickness. Serve poached salmon with:

1. Hollandaise sauce (pages 25–26)

2. Sauce Béarnaise (page 26)

3. Béchamel or velouté made with fish stock (pages 21, 23)

4. Egg and parsley sauce (page 23)

5. Sauce rémoulade (page 35)

6. Sauce gribiche (pages 36–37)

7. Duxelles (page 27)

8. Lobster sauce (page 21)

9. Oyster sauce (page 21)

Plain boiled potatoes, with butter and parsley, and peas are customary with salmon. I also like a puree of spinach or a puree of spinach mixed with sorrel.

COULIBIAC OF SALMON

This roll of salmon, a Russian dish, is one of the most unusual I have encountered. It is wonderful for buffet services, for it slices well and is easy to eat with a fork. With spinach or a salad it is a meal in itself.

Begin by preparing a brioche dough for the crust:

Brioche Commune

4 to 5 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

1 package active dry yeast dissolved in 1/2 cup warm water, 105° to 110°

1 tablespoon sugar

4 eggs

1 tablespoon salt

3/4 cup butter, softened to the same consistency as the dough

Combine