No. 1147

Salt Codfish, Faraday Crowns

Morue Salee, Couronnes a la Faraday

Soak some salt codfish cut in two inch squares and well pared, for twelve hours; six hours in cold water, and six in tepid water; change this and put the fish into a saucepan containing fresh cold water. Let the liquid reach boiling point, then set it on one side of the range without allowing it to boil for twenty-five minutes; take out the codfish, refresh and suppress the skin, shred and return it to a saucepan with an equal amount of potatoes prepared for duchess (No. 2785), and mixed with bechamel sauce (No. 409) until reduced and consistent, then add a pinch of cayenne pepper. Divide this preparation into parts the size of an egg, roll them into balls on a floured table, and mold in Savarin crown-shaped molds; unmold and draw them out to an oval form and fill the insides with a little of the same preparation, so as to fill up half the empty space, then fry in clarified butter. Serve with a poached egg in the center of each. Broil some thin slices of bacon, cut them into inch and a half lengths and with these surround the crowns.

← No. 1146 Brandade of Salt Cod Cod, Haddock & Halibut No. 1148 Picked Up Codfish with Cream →

For the Modern Kitchen

A Delmonico's construction dish: salt cod bound with duchesse potato and béchamel, shaped in ring molds, fried, and finished with a poached egg. The hinge is the poaching — the fish must never actually boil, or it shreds into dry threads instead of firm flakes.

The soak is not optionalTwelve hours total, six cold then six tepid, with the water changed. Modern salt cod varies enormously in salinity; taste a corner of a piece raw after soaking, and if it is still aggressively salty give it another few hours in cold water. Under-soaked cod will make the whole potato mixture inedible.
Poaching "on one side of the range"Bring the pot just to a boil, then pull it off the heat entirely or hold it at about 160-170F for the 25 minutes. On a gas or electric range this means the lowest setting with the lid on, or simply a covered pot off the burner. Visible simmering toughens salt cod.
"Refresh and suppress the skin"Refresh means to cool it under cold water so you can handle it; suppress the skin means pull off skin and any remaining bones or membrane before shredding.
Duchesse potatoes and béchamelRanhofer's cross-references assume you have both to hand. Duchesse is riced dry-baked or boiled potato beaten with egg yolk and butter, seasoned, stiff enough to pipe. The béchamel should be reduced thick — spoon-coating and barely pourable — or the mixture will not hold a molded shape.
Savarin moldsA savarin mold is a plain ring mold, the kind used for the yeast cake of that name. Small individual rings or even a wide-mouthed cookie cutter set on a floured tray will give the same crown. Chill the shaped crowns thoroughly before frying; warm potato mixture collapses in the fat.
Clarified butterUse it rather than whole butter — the milk solids in whole butter scorch at the temperature needed to brown these, around 350F. Ghee works. Fry in a shallow pan, turning once, until the outside is set and golden.
Ratio and yieldRatio -- Equal weights of cooked shredded cod and duchesse potato. Ranhofer gives no yield or number of servings; the preparation is simply divided into pieces the size of an egg.
Timing the eggsPoach the eggs first and hold them in warm water, or poach them while the crowns fry. They should be set white, liquid yolk; the yolk is the sauce for the dish.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of some thirty years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and it is full of dishes named for the patrons, performers and public figures of the day — the "Faraday" may well be a compliment to the English scientist Michael Faraday, in the same spirit as Ranhofer's Rossini, Patti and Bernhardt garnishes, though he never explains his dedications. Salt cod earned its place in a luxury restaurant book on the strength of its long Catholic and New England history rather than any expense: dried, salted cod was cheap, kept indefinitely, and was eaten in enormous quantity in nineteenth-century America. What Ranhofer does is take that plain material and put it through the full repertoire of the professional kitchen — soaked, poached, bound with duchesse potato and béchamel, molded, fried, crowned with an egg and ringed with bacon — which is exactly the transformation the book exists to demonstrate.