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For Sauce (Tablespoonfuls Crisco)
4 tablespoonfuls Crisco 2 tablespoonfuls flour 1 teaspoonful lemon juice 3 anchovies 1 tablespoonful chopped parsley Pepper to taste 2 cupfuls fish stock, or milk and water For fish. Mix Crisco with shallot, gherkin, anchovy, and seasonings, lay salmon in this mixture and let it "marinade," as it is called, for one hour. At the end of that time lift it out; do not shake off any ingredients that are sticking to it. Now lay it in a well Criscoed fireproof dish, cover it with a greased paper, and bake in moderate oven for thirty minutes. For sauce. Melt Crisco in small saucepan, stir in flour, add fish stock and stir until it boils and thickens. Rub anchovies through fine sieve, and add with seasonings. Serve in hot tureen with fish. Fish
Two parts here: a marinated baked salmon and the anchovy sauce that goes with it. The sauce ingredient list is the one given, so the marinade quantities have to be judged by eye.
- CriscoStraight substitution: use butter, or a neutral oil for the marinade. Crisco was hydrogenated cottonseed oil, and every recipe in this book exists to sell it, so the fat choice is promotional rather than culinary.
- Moderate ovenRoughly 350F. The recipe gives no weight of salmon; thirty minutes suits a thick centre-cut piece of a couple of pounds, while a thinner tail piece or fillets will likely be ready sooner. Better to cook to about 125-130F at the thickest point than to go by the clock.
- The marinade quantitiesThe shallot, gherkin and anchovy for the marinade are named in the method but given no amounts. For a 2 lb piece, one shallot finely chopped, one or two gherkins, two anchovy fillets mashed, and 3 to 4 tablespoonfuls of fat is a sensible reading.
- Greased paperA greased paper covering keeps the surface of the fish from drying. Parchment does the job; foil traps more steam.
- AnchoviesThree salted whole anchovies of the period are roughly six modern tinned fillets. Rubbing them through a sieve is unnecessary with oil-packed fillets, which mash to a paste against the side of the pan.
- Sauce consistencyFour tablespoonfuls fat to two of flour is a fat-heavy roux; the sauce will be rich and only lightly bound with two cupfuls of liquid. Equal weights of fat and flour give a cleaner sauce if you want it to coat.
- SaltThe ingredient list names only pepper, though the method twice refers to 'seasonings'. Anchovies and fish stock both carry salt, so taste at the end before adding any.
- YieldThe sauce makes about two cupfuls.
The Story of Crisco (1913) was published by Procter & Gamble to teach American cooks what to do with a wholly new product: a solid white shortening made from hydrogenated cottonseed oil, introduced in 1911. The recipes are conventional Anglo-American fare of the period with the brand name written into every line, and Crisco takes the place of butter, lard and drippings even in dishes that plainly want them. A baked salmon marinated with shallot, gherkin and anchovy and served under an anchovy sauce is thoroughly English in character, part of a long tradition of using salted anchovy as a background savour rather than an announced flavour.