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Boudins-de-Saumon Salad
Butter four small dariole moulds, or small cups; sprinkle the butter with chopped parsley. Select four small pieces of cooked salmon, dry on a soft cloth so as to remove all oily liquor, and put a piece in each mould. Beat two eggs (or, better, one egg and the yolks of two) slightly, season with one-fourth a teaspoonful of salt, a dash of paprica and a few drops of anchovy essence or onion juice; add half a cup of milk, and, when well mixed, pour into the moulds around the fish. Set the moulds in a pan of hot water and bake until the custard is set. Do not let the water boil. Chill thoroughly, then turn from the moulds on to lettuce leaves.
Serve with a star of mayonnaise dressing on the top of each boudin.
A baked savory custard with salmon set in it, unmoulded cold onto lettuce. The whole thing hinges on gentle heat: this is a custard first and a fish dish second.
- Never let the water boilThe instruction to keep the bain-marie below a boil matters. Custard taken much above roughly 180-185F curdles, weeps and turns grainy, and will not turn out of the mould cleanly. Keep the water at a bare quiver.
- Oven temperatureNo temperature is given; recipes of this period routinely left it to the cook's judgement. A moderate oven, about 325F, suits: the custards are done when set at the edge with a slight wobble at the center, roughly 25 to 30 minutes for dariole-sized moulds, or around 170F internal.
- Dariole mouldsSmall, slightly tapered metal cylinders, commonly 2 to 4 fl oz. Ramekins, timbale moulds or ovenproof teacups of similar capacity will serve, though shape affects how cleanly they turn out.
- Anchovy essenceA thin, salty bottled seasoning widely sold in Britain and America at the time. Substitute a scant quarter teaspoon of anchovy paste mashed smooth, or a few drops of colatura or Asian fish sauce. Use restraint; it is a background note, not a flavor.
- PapricaSimply the older spelling of paprika. Sweet Hungarian or Spanish paprika suits it better than hot.
- The salmonAny cooked salmon serves, including good tinned salmon drained hard. Drying the fish matters as written: oil and liquid released into the custard will keep it from setting evenly and leave a wet seam.
- Turning outChill at least three hours, ideally overnight. Run a thin knife around the rim and dip the mould briefly in warm water; the buttered, parsley-lined surface should release in one piece.
- YieldFour moulds, one per person as a first course or a light luncheon dish with the mayonnaise and a green salad.
The name is borrowed rather than literal. In classical French kitchens a boudin is a sausage, and by extension a forcemeat shaped in a casing or mould, so a small fish custard turned out of a dariole could plausibly claim the word. Dishes of this kind are characteristic of the early-twentieth-century American cooking-school tradition, where French terminology lent standing to what was in effect an economical way of turning leftover cooked salmon into something that could be sent to table cold, individually portioned, and dressed with a star of mayonnaise. Books of this era commonly gave neither oven temperature nor baking time, home ranges rarely having thermometers; the cook was expected to judge a custard by eye and to know that gentle water-bath heat was the whole technique.