No. 1248

Salmon-Smoked American Style

Saumon Fume a l'Americaine

Boil over a slow fire some fresh, mellow smoked salmon, then dress it with the following sauce: Chop up finely two shallots, place them in a saucepan with half a pint of fish essence (No. 388), and one gill of vinegar, reduce with a pint of lean veloute (No. 415); stir in the juice of a lemon, two ounces of anchovy butter (No. 569) and four finely chopped hard boiled egg-yolks; strew a little chopped parsley over and serve.

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For the Modern Kitchen

A short sauce recipe built on three of Ranhofer's cross-referenced preparations, so most of the work is in the components rather than the salmon. It assumes a hard-cured, heavily smoked side of fish, not the silky cold-smoked slices sold today.

The smoked salmon is not lox"Fresh, mellow smoked salmon" appears to mean a smoke-cured piece meant to be cooked rather than sliced raw, though "mellow" suggests a mild rather than a hard cure. Use a hot-smoked fillet or a lightly cured piece, and taste it first: if it turns out very salty, soak it in cold water before poaching.
"Boil over a slow fire" means poachThis is the hinge. Bring the water barely to a tremble, around 170-180F, and hold the fish there until just heated through, roughly 8-10 minutes for a thick piece. A true boil shreds already-firm cured salmon and squeezes out white albumin.
MeasuresA gill is half a cup, so half a pint of fish essence is one cup, the vinegar is half a cup, and the velouté is two cups. Two ounces of anchovy butter is four tablespoons.
Fish essence (No. 388)A concentrated fish stock reduced until strongly flavoured. A well-made fumet from salmon or sole bones, simmered 20 minutes and then reduced by half, does the job; do not simmer fish bones for an hour.
Lean velouté (No. 415)A white roux-thickened velvety sauce made with stock rather than milk; "lean" here means made on fish or vegetable stock, without meat. Two cups of a medium roux-thickened white sauce built on fish stock is the practical substitute.
Anchovy butter (No. 569)Pounded anchovy fillets worked into softened butter, roughly one part anchovy to three or four parts butter. Whisk it in off the heat at the end so it emulsifies rather than breaking, and salt the sauce only after it goes in.
Reduction and seasoningThe text's "reduce with a pint of lean veloute" is ambiguous as to whether the shallots, essence and vinegar are reduced before the velouté joins them or with it; reducing the sharpness out of the vinegar at some stage keeps the finished sauce from tasting acrid. The cured fish, the anchovy butter and the reduced stock all carry salt.
YieldThe sauce as written is generous, enough for six to eight portions of fish. Halve it for a household dinner, or keep the full quantity and serve the rest with poached white fish the next day.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer put this in The Epicurean (1894), the record of his years running the kitchen at Delmonico's in New York, and the title is doing something odd: a French name, Saumon fum e0 e0 l'Am e9ricaine, hung on a dish whose "American" element the book never explains. Cured and smoked salmon in the nineteenth century was a preserved staple, salty and firm, and cooking it in water was one common way to bring it to table. The sauce follows the pattern of Car e8me-descended grande cuisine u2014 a shallot and vinegar reduction, a mother sauce, compound butter beaten in at the last moment u2014 and chopped hard-boiled yolk was a familiar garnish of the period. The chain of numbered cross-references is characteristic of the book, which assumed a kitchen with essence, velout e9 and anchovy butter already prepared.