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Salmon Loaf (With Bread Crumbs)
Rub a slice of stale bread on a grater till it is finely crumbled. Put it in a double boiler with one cup of milk and steam till you have a smooth paste.
While it is cooking pick over one can of salmon, taking out every morsel of skin and bone, then rub the salmon into shreds with a slitted wooden spoon. To the panade add half a cup of cream, half a teaspoon of salt, a dash of cayenne and the shredded salmon. Mix well and add three eggs beaten very light. Whip for a few minutes and pour in a buttered mold. Set the mold into a pan of hot water and allow it to bake till firm in a moderate oven. - Katherine A. French.
A custard-bound fish loaf rather than a dense pressed one: the eggs and the water bath do the work, so the oven temperature and the internal set matter more than the clock.
- Moderate ovenBake at about 350F. A hotter oven risks the egg setting hard at the edges before the centre firms, even in a water bath.
- The panadeBread steamed to a paste with milk is a classic binder. One slice of stale bread grated gives roughly 1/2 cup of fine crumbs; if you use dried commercial crumbs, start with less, around 1/3 cup, as they absorb more.
- Canned salmon todayA period tall can was around one pound; modern tall cans run 14.75 oz, and pouches 5-6 oz. One large can, or about a pound of fish, matches the original. The soft vertebral bones are edible and a source of calcium, though the recipe's insistence on removing them gives a smoother loaf.
- Skin and dark fleshRemoving the skin is worth doing for texture. The dark lateral flesh is strongly flavoured; leave it in for a fuller taste, take it out for a paler, milder loaf.
- Judging "firm"Expect 45 to 60 minutes for a 1 1/2 quart mold. The loaf is done when the centre reaches 160F and a knife inserted there comes out clean; the surface should still have a slight wobble as a whole.
- The water bathHot water should reach halfway up the mold. Butter the mold generously and, if you intend to turn it out, line the base with parchment and let it stand 10 minutes before unmolding.
- SeasoningHalf a teaspoon of salt for a pound of canned salmon is modest, and canned fish is already salted; taste the mixture before the eggs go in and adjust.
- Yield and servingServes six as a main course. Loaves of this kind were commonly served with a white sauce, egg sauce or cucumber sauce, though this recipe does not mention one.
Salmon loaf belongs to the great age of the can. Pacific salmon canning grew rapidly along the Columbia River and in Alaska through the last decades of the nineteenth century, and by the time this book was compiled a can of salmon was one of the cheapest reliable proteins in an American pantry, available far inland and all year. Cookery writers responded with dozens of ways to stretch it: croquettes, scallops, timbales and loaves. This version is essentially a fish timbale, built on a panade of bread and milk in the French manner and set with whole eggs in a bain-marie, a technique borrowed straight from the professional kitchen and scaled down to a household mold. The recipe carries an attribution to Katherine A. French.