No. 1244

Salmon-Broiled Slices-Bearnaise Sauce

Tranches de Saumon Grillees a la Sauce Bearnaise

Cut off two slices from the fish, each half an inch thick; lay them on a dish to sprinkle with salt, adding sweet oil, minced onions, and parsley leaves; let them marinate for one hour. Set them on a broiler and broil them for thirty minutes, basting them over with oil or melted butter. When done, remove the skin, dress them on a dish and pour over a little oil mingled with lemon juice and chopped parsley. Send to the table with a sauce-boat of bearnaise sauce (No. 433).

← No. 1243 Salmon a la Victoria Salmon & Trout No. 1245 Salmon Marinade Sauce →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer's method is sound, but one number in it will ruin the fish. Read the timing point first.

Thirty minutes is wrong for modern purposesA half-inch slice of salmon is cooked through in roughly 6 to 8 minutes total over a hot fire, turned once. The original time assumes a slow charcoal gridiron and a period taste for salmon cooked firm and dry; at 30 minutes today's farmed salmon will be chalky.
"Broiler" means a gridironIn 1894 this is a grill set over live coals, so the heat comes from below and basting drips into the fire. A charcoal or gas grill is the nearest equivalent. Under an overhead broiler, keep the slices a few inches from the element and do not turn them more than once.
Sweet oilPlain olive oil, chosen for being mild rather than fruity or peppery. Any decent olive oil works; the marinade and the finishing oil can be the same bottle.
Slices, not filletsThese are cross-cut steaks through the whole fish, bone and skin included, which is why the skin is peeled off after cooking. Cut them from a large centre section so they hold together on the grill.
Salt in the marinadeAn hour of salt plus oil firms the surface and helps it colour. Keep it to an hour as written; longer and the flesh begins to cure and turns dense.
The béarnaise cross-referenceThe béarnaise cross-reference -- No. 433 is a separate recipe in the book, a béarnaise of the standard type: a vinegar, shallot and tarragon reduction mounted with egg yolks and butter. Hold it warm but well below a simmer or it will break.
YieldTwo slices of this size would serve two as a main course, though the recipe does not say so.

A Little History

This is from Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894), the enormous compendium of the food he served over three decades as chef of Delmonico's in New York, and the numbered cross-references are how the whole book works: nearly every dish points to a sauce or garnish filed elsewhere. Grilled salmon with béarnaise was already a fixed pairing in the French repertoire by then, the rich tarragon butter sauce standing in for the older practice of serving boiled salmon with plain melted butter. The sauce's name is generally traced to Béarn, the home province of Henri IV, and its invention is traditionally credited to the kitchen of the Pavillon Henri IV at Saint-Germain-en-Laye in the 1830s, though the attribution rests on anecdote rather than record. Salmon at this date came wild from the Penobscot, the Restigouche and the Columbia, arriving in New York on ice, and a cut of two thick centre slices for two diners reflects how expensive a good fish was.