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Fillets of Fish En Mayonaise
1. The kinds of fish that will fall apart in flakes, such as salmon, turbot, halibut, redfish, and fresh cod may be made in salads in the same ways as lobsters, shrimps and oysters, already directed. But table sauces, ketchups, soy, and essence of anchovies, can be added to the dressings according to taste.
Of India soy Savarin says: "It seems likely the Roman garum was a foreign sauce; perhaps even the 'soy' which we get from India, and which is known to be got by the fermentation of a mixture of fish and mushrooms." 2. Fillets of fish are the whole sides freed from bones and skin. For individual dishes cut these into smaller fillets, about the size of fingers. Lay them to steep a while in oil, vinegar, pepper and salt, and dish on a bed of chopped celery. Then over each fillet pour a spoonful of mayonaise. 3. For a mayonaise of fillets of soles or brook trout: Skin the fish before cooking, and likewise split down the back and take the bones out. Roll the boned fish up in finger shape and lay them close together in a pan. Pour in some broth with a dash of vinegar, salt, white pepper, a piece of onion and some parsley. Cover with a bright flat lid, put buttered paper over that and cook in the oven 20 or 30 minutes. There should be little or no liquor left in the pan. Put a small weight on the lid to press the fillets, and set them away to get cold.
When to be made in mayonaise trim the ends off. Moisten the fillets with oil and vinegar in a bowl, and build them up, if for a large dish, around a conical pile of chopped celery or lettuce and pour the dressing over all. Garnish with lemons.
A cold garde-manger preparation in three parts: a note on which fish flake for salads, a quick version using already-cooked fillets, and a proper oven-braised roll of sole or trout pressed cold. The third method is the one worth doing.
- The fish must be cooked firstThe recipe does not say so outright, but the context of paragraph 1 (flaked fish for salads) implies fillets already poached or baked and cooled. The oil-and-vinegar steeping is a marinade for cooked fish, not a cure; raw fillets dressed this way and served would be a raw preparation, which does not appear to be what is intended.
- Oven braise, and less of itOven braise -- the recipe says only "cook in the oven," with the pan of broth acting as a covered braise; a moderate oven (around 325-350F) suits it. Note that the 20 to 30 minutes given is for these same finger-shaped rolls, but small modern fillets may be done well before that, so check early and cook to about 145F internal to avoid drying them.
- Buttered paper and the bright flat lidThe recipe puts the flat lid on the pan first and the buttered paper over the lid. "Bright" appears to mean a clean tinned or polished lid rather than a blacked iron one, on the old belief that it would not discolour a white fish. Any tight lid or foil will do.
- PressingThe small weight is the point of the method. Pressed while cooling in their own reduced liquor, the rolls set firm enough to trim square and hold a mayonnaise without collapsing. Chill at least four hours, preferably overnight, under a plate and a can.
- India soy and essence of anchoviesIndia soy is soy sauce, then an imported luxury sold by the bottle. Essence of anchovies is anchovy extract, closest today to anchovy paste thinned with a little water; Worcestershire, which also contains anchovy, will stand in. A teaspoon of either in a cup of mayonnaise is plenty.
- The fish namedTurbot is scarce and costly outside Europe, and redfish is regional; halibut, cod or hake substitute for the flaking salads. "Brook trout" means small whole trout, roughly 8 to 10 inches, boned through the back and rolled.
- The mayonnaisePeriod mayonnaise is raw yolk, oil, vinegar and seasoning, and this dish sits at room temperature on a buffet. Use pasteurised eggs or a good commercial mayonnaise loosened with lemon and oil if the platter will stand more than an hour, and keep it cold until service.
- YieldNo quantity is given. Reckon two finger fillets per person as a first course; a whole side of salmon or halibut, flaked, dresses a salad for eight to ten.
The quotation is from Brillat-Savarin's Physiologie du gout (1825), where he speculates that the Roman fish sauce garum and the soy then arriving from Asia might be relatives — a guess that is roughly right about the technique, since both are fermented protein condiments, and wrong about the mushrooms. The pressed, trimmed, geometrically arranged cold fish belongs to the same fashion that produced aspics, chaud-froids and salmon in belle-vue — food designed to be looked at down the length of a sideboard before anyone ate it.