Salmon a la Destaing

Have a very fresh twelve to sixteen-pound salmon; dress, that is, scrape off the scales, suppress the gills, and empty it by making an incision in the belly; wash it very clean, pare off the fins, and lay the salmon on a fish-kettle grate, on its side, the head resting toward the left; cover with cold white wine court-bouillon (No. 39) and stand the kettle on a hot fire; remove it at the first boil, and keep the liquid at boiling heat, without allowing it to boil up, for one hour for a twelve-pound salmon, and one hour and a half for a sixteen-pound one. Let it cool off in its own stock, then drain well for two hours. Remove the skin and sanguineous parts in the center so that the meat itself is entirely exposed, then slide it on a board of its own dimensions. Place a small bread crouton, shaped like the tail (a slightly lengthened triangle), at the extreme end of the tail, it being shaved down to almost nothing; fill the empty part of the fish with butter. Work some butter in a bowl and when very white, smooth and frothy, use it to cover the entire fish; have a strong straight band of paper, one inch in width, pass it over the butter several times until smooth, following the outlines of the salmon, and let get thoroughly cold; now cover it with a sufficiently thick and smooth layer of half-set red jelly, decorate this with truffles, pistachios, hard egg-white, and the red part of lobster meat; imitate the eye, mouth and gills, covering it over with more jelly. Dress it either on a socle or large dish, and surround with small shrimp aspics molded in timbale molds (No. 2. Fig. 137), decorated with eggs and truffles, filling them with a salpicon of shrimp mingled with jellied mayonnaise (No. 613), and fillets of sole, pared round. Cover with jellied mayonnaise, to which add chopped tarragon and chervil, then mask this over with jelly. Serve some mayonnaise sauce (No. 606) separately.