Salmon Steak
When well dried, pepper and salt sift over powdered cracker, and lay upon a gridiron, which has been first greased with butter or lard, over hot coals. As soon as the side next to the fire is brown, turn it by carefully slipping under it a batter-cake turner and holding the fish on it with the other hand, lest it should break. When both sides are of a light brown, lay in a hot dish; pepper and salt again; pour over melted butter; place the cover on, and serve.--Mrs. T.
A grilled salmon steak, drier and leaner in treatment than most modern grill recipes, and finished with butter rather than basted in it. The instructions assume a cleaned, cut steak already patted dry.
- The hinge: dry the fish"When well dried" is doing real work. Surface moisture steams rather than sears, and the cracker coating will slide off wet fish. Blot the steak thoroughly and let it sit uncovered a few minutes before coating.
- Powdered crackerFinely crushed plain soda or water crackers, closer to a coarse flour than to breadcrumbs. Unsalted cracker crumbs or fine dry breadcrumbs stand in; the coating is a thin dusting, not a crust.
- Gridiron over hot coalsA hinged or flat iron grate set directly over the fire. A charcoal grill or a ridged cast-iron pan over medium-high heat gives the same result. Grease the bars while they are hot, immediately before the fish goes on, or it will weld.
- Turning it onceThe batter-cake turner is a broad, thin metal spatula. Salmon releases from the grate only when it has set; if it resists, it is not ready to turn. Move it once and no more.
- Doneness"Light brown" on both sides is the only cue given, and it will undercook or overcook depending on thickness. A one-inch steak takes roughly four minutes a side. Modern cooks often pull salmon around 125-130F at the thickest point for a moist center, though standard food-safety guidance for fish is 145F.
- The covered dishCovering the hot platter after saucing lets the butter and fish juices mingle and keeps the steak from cooling on the way to the table. It will also soften the cracker coating slightly.
- Seasoning twiceSalt and pepper go on before grilling and again in the dish, so keep the first pass light.
- YieldThe recipe gives no quantity; it is written for a single steak. Scale directly; the method does not change with quantity, though a crowded gridiron will steam the fish.
Housekeeping in Old Virginia (1878), compiled by Marion Cabell Tyree, gathered contributions from some 250 Virginia housekeepers, each signed with a name or initials as this one is with "Mrs. T." Salmon was not a Virginia fish; the Chesapeake tables of the period ran to shad, rockfish and oysters. Its appearance here is usually attributed to the reach of the post-war railroads and the ice trade, which by the 1870s were moving Northern and eventually Pacific salmon inland, alongside the canned salmon that was becoming widely available in American pantries in the same decade. Dusting with cracker or crumb and broiling on a greased gridiron over coals was a common American treatment for firm steak-cut fish, with melted butter poured over at the last moment serving as sauce and dressing.