Jane Grigson's Fish Book - Jane Grigson [149]
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.
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.
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 butter if the salmon is to be eaten hot, or with oil if it is to be eaten cold (butter 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 butter 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 glass 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 500–750 g (1–1½ 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 cucumber.
Preheat the over to gas 7, 220°C (425°F). Check on a 1½–2 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 cucumber stuffing (p. 183) or the mushroom stuffing on 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 butter can be enough, or the buttery wine juices from a salmon cooked in foil. Any of the cream* and butter* 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 butter* as a change, especially if you are a gardener.
PRESENTATION
In high class cookery, salmon and salmon trout are invariably served without their skin if they are to be eaten cold.