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Salmon, Mayonnaise Of

Mayonnaise of salmon consists of salmon boiled and then allowed to get cold, served with salad and mayonnaise sauce. It is a dish which is very highly esteemed, and one which affords ample scope for the display of the artistic faculty. The salmon may be boiled and dished whole, or it may be divided into flakes two inches long and an inch wide. Instructions for both methods are here given. The salmon may be boiled in the usual way, or for a superlative dish it may be dressed as follows. Put a moderate-sized carrot, sliced, into a saucepan with four shallots, a handful of parsley, a sprig of thyme, a sprig of chervil, a bay-leaf, a tea-spoonful of salt, and a slice of fresh butter. Steam the ingredients for four or five minutes, then pour in as much boiling water as will barely cover the fish, and add two glassfuls of light wine. Put in a piece of salmon weighing about five pounds, let it boil up quickly, skim the liquor, then draw the saucepan back a little, and simmer the fish gently till it is done enough; drain it, and leave it till cold. If the piece is to be served whole, dish it on a napkin, garnish round with small salad and crayfish, and stick prawns and parsley into the salmon with silver skewers. Send mayonnaise sauce to table in a boat. When the salmon is to be broken up, boil it, let it get cold, remove the skin and bone, and divide the flesh into pieces. Trim these neatly, and if plainly boiled, season each one with oil, vinegar, pepper, and salt. Trim and wash two large lettuces or any other salad. Dry the leaves perfectly by shaking them in a napkin held by the four corners. Put a layer of salad, finely shredded, in a bowl, place on this two table-spoonfuls of the sauce, and then part of the salmon, with a little more sauce, and repeat until all the ingredients are used. Ornament the top with slices of fresh cucumber, garnish the base with a border of hard-boiled eggs, prawns, etc., and let a trellis-work of beetroot rest upon the eggs. The decoration of this dish may be varied indefinitely. Make the sauce as follows. Put the yolk of an egg, freed from white, into a basin, add pepper and salt, and stir in very gradually about four ounces of oil. The oil should be dropped in at first, and the mixture well beaten between every addition. The success of the sauce depends upon this being done. After every eighth tea-spoonful of oil put in alternately a tea-spoonful of plain vinegar and a tea-spoonful of tarragon vinegar. The sauce should, when finished, have the appearance of very thick cream. Taste, and, if necessary, add further seasoning, and, if liked, a spoonful of chopped chervil, a spoonful of mustard, and a little anchovy. The seasoning ought as a rule to be rather high. Keep the sauce in a cool place till wanted, and do not dish the salmon until a short time before it is required. Probable cost of salmon, 1s. to 1s. 4d. per pound when plentiful. A mayonnaise by no means to be despised may be made from tinned salmon. When the fish is torn into flakes, three-quarters of a pound of salmon will make a dish sufficient for six persons.