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Salmon Cutlets, Scotch
Cut in the direction of the width of the fish, and of the breadth of the finger, as many cross-slices as may be required; put them in scalding-hot water, and let them boil ten minutes. By this very economical proceeding, there is none of that waste which generally results from the dressing of the whole fish at once.
Two lines of instruction that amount to a poaching method rather than a recipe. The one thing worth changing is the timing.
- "Breadth of the finger"Roughly 3/4 inch, cut straight across the fish so each slice is a round or half-round with a section of backbone in the middle. Slices this thick hold together; thinner ones fall apart in the water.
- Ten minutes is too longA 3/4-inch salmon steak is done in about 5 to 6 minutes at a bare simmer, when the flesh at the bone has just turned opaque. Ten minutes at a rolling boil gives dry, chalky fish and drives out the white albumin that curdles on the surface.
- Scalding hot, not boilingThe original wants the water already hot so the outside sets and the juices stay in, but keep it at 175-185F once the fish is in. Visible bubbling breaks up the flakes.
- Season the waterNo salt is mentioned, which was probably assumed. Salt the poaching water well, roughly a tablespoon per quart, and a splash of vinegar or a slice of lemon firms the flesh.
- YieldOne cutlet per person for a main course. The point of the method, as the text says, is that you cook only what you need and keep the rest of the fish whole in the cold.
- ServingVictorian practice was lobster sauce, shrimp sauce, or plain melted butter with cucumber. Drain the cutlets well and lift the skin and the small pin bones before they go to the table.
Cutting a salmon crosswise into steaks rather than cooking it whole was a frugality born of abundance: through much of the nineteenth century Scottish and Irish salmon reached British kitchens in quantity, and a whole fish was too much for most households to eat at one sitting. The instruction is a principle, not a dish, and the reasoning offered for it is economic rather than gastronomic. The related Victorian technique of crimping, in which a very fresh salmon was scored deeply and plunged into cold water to contract the flesh before boiling, belongs to the same world of fish handled within hours of the net. The claim that plunging into hot water seals in the juices is traditional cookery lore rather than settled fact, though the practical result here, firm slices that do not shed their flakes, is real enough.