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Salmon, Crimped
Take two slices of crimped salmon, and place them in a stewpan in two quarts of boiling water, half a pound of salt being added. Simmer gently for a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes; try the bone in the centre, and if it leaves the flesh easily the fish is done enough. Remove the fish from the pan, the instant it is done enough--to allow it to remain longer destroys the aroma. If not ready, cover it over with a wet napkin, and stand it in the hot closet; then dish it on a napkin, and serve either lobster, tomato, or shrimp sauce with it.
A plain salt-water poach for thick salmon steaks, written when salmon came to the kitchen whole and freshly killed. Two things need translating: what "crimped" means, and how long the fish actually wants in the water.
- CrimpingCrimping was a fishmonger's operation: deep gashes cut across a very fresh fish, which was then laid in cold water to firm the flesh before it was cut into steaks. Accounts of how long it sat vary, from a few minutes to about an hour. It gave the dense, flaky texture Victorians prized. No modern counter does it, so simply buy centre-cut steaks about 1 to 1.5 inches thick.
- The saltHalf a pound of salt to two quarts of water is a very strong brine, on the order of 11 to 12 per cent by weight, roughly three times the salinity of seawater. It seasons the fish and firms the surface. It is not a mistake, but it does mean the poaching liquid is unusable afterwards and the sauce should be salted lightly, if at all.
- The timingFifteen to twenty minutes will leave a modern inch-thick steak dry and chalky. At a bare simmer, such a steak is done in 8 to 10 minutes; thicker cuts a little more. Trust the book's own test rather than its clock.
- The bone testThe centre bone lifting cleanly from the flesh is a reliable doneness cue and still works. An instant-read thermometer at the thickest point is quicker: 125-130F gives moist, just-set salmon, and the fish carries on cooking a degree or two off the heat.
- Simmer, not boil"Simmer gently" is the hinge. A rolling boil breaks the flakes apart and squeezes out white albumin. Bring the brine to the boil, slide the fish in, then drop the heat so the surface barely trembles.
- The hot closetA warming cupboard beside the range, kept just warm enough to hold food without cooking it further. A modern oven on its lowest setting with the door ajar does the same job. The damp napkin stops a skin forming while the fish waits.
- Dishing on a napkinA folded linen napkin on the platter absorbs the poaching water so the fish is not sitting in a puddle. It is a Victorian table convention rather than a cooking step, and a warmed plate serves as well.
- YieldTwo steaks feed two generously, or three at a lighter meal. Lobster, shrimp and tomato sauces were all standard Victorian accompaniments; a hollandaise or a herbed butter suits the same purpose.
Crimping was one of the defining marks of a good fishmonger in nineteenth-century Britain, and the practice is described in cookery and household books throughout the period: the fish had to be scored while still very fresh, then chilled in water, to contract the muscle and produce the firm, curdy flake that was thought the proper texture for salmon and cod. Cassell's, compiled in the 1870s and reissued for decades after, catalogues such techniques as matters of course rather than curiosities, which is why the recipe assumes the reader can simply buy "two slices of crimped salmon". Boiled fish was generally sent to table with a sauce, and lobster, shrimp and tomato were among the usual choices. Wild salmon was still plentiful enough in British rivers to be an everyday dish in season.