SC - Salmon at feasts

[Philip & Susan Troy]

marilyn traber wrote, re salmon:

> fresh, prepared en papillot on a bed of leeks, carrots and celery sauted
> in butter with thyme and rosemary, topped with lemon slices and dabs of
> butter-a la bretonne, in other words....sigh!

> Russell Gilman-Hunt wrote:

> > However, at a mundane dinner (work), someone announced that they would
> > not eat the salmon entree' because they "refuse to eat an endangered
> > species."  (I live in the Pacific Northwest; the salmon runs are all
> > in danger here up and down the coast.)  This is making me rethink one
> > of my favorite dinners (sniff).
> 
> I didn't think that they were endangered, the fda probably wouldn't
> allow it to be sold in grocery stores if they were endangered, i
> wouldn't think...
> 
> > Fortunately, I guess, my wife hates salmon.
> 
> boo, hiss.

In cases like this, I really enjoy employing the logic of the old Abbot
and Costello routine about how shameful it is that Lou doesn't like
mustard, the cad. "Whaddaya mean you don't like mustard? Think of all
those people in the mustard factories, slaving away, so you can have
mustard. Now if you don't buy their mustard, they're gonna lose their
jobs! Just think of all the children of those people, starving, just
because you don't like mustard!" etc., etc...


> [getting out asbestos shield and preparing to duck]
> 
> I for one do not generally boycott foods other than veal, unless I know
> the person who raised the calf and didnt mistreat it. I also am mot
> particularly pc, but i would temper my menu to the prevailing tastes-
> for example, despite the interest on line about horse, I would never
> feature it at a feast. I might make a small pot of horse stew for myself
> and if others wanted to try it, i would make it available, but the
> general populace would have a conniption fit. I for one do not see the
> difference between cow and any other animal raised for meat. I live on a
> farm and regularly raise sheep and chickens for food. This spring I will
> probably raide geese, turkeys and chickens, If I have the money I might
> even get a pig. I hunt and fish, but we also do it for food, not
> trophies...I guess I am a realistwhen it comes down to it, but I have
> been tempted to make "flipper n grits" as my house hold calls it- non
> mamillian dolphin and polenta- for a feast some time just to shock
> people.

Oh, yeah, you rotter you! I don't even have a problem with veal,
provided it is the real stuff, and all that happens to it is more or
less the same as what happens to a steer, but earlier.

Some  more period approaches to salmon would to roast it, whole, and eat
it with cameline sauce, green sauce, or perhaps a mustard sauce, and I
found a spiffy version of salmon quenelles or dumplings, called "Saumon
Gentil" somewhere in Curye on Inglysche. This dish involved mincing
skinless and boneless fillets (note: do NOT remove the belly fat!) and
extruding them through a hollow horn with the tip cut off, into boiling
liquid. When the blobs are cooked, they can be cut into serving
portions, and sprinkled with ground cumin. We made these at an event
recently, and added some eggs to the mix, for a little insurance against
breakage, and made individual dumplings with a pastry bag. We poached
them in salmon stock, made from the remains of the salmon (being SURE to
remove the gills, and any fat on the carcasses), and served them
floating on top of a green sauce of salmon stock, malt vinegar, parsley,
sorrel, and a few fresh bread crumbs.

While not exactly a direct comment on the fish, somebody saw fit to rise
and regale the folks in the hall with an impromptu recitation of the
tale of Finn Mac Coul and the Salmon of Knowledge. I thought that was
pretty cool... .

Adamantius   
______________________________________
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com
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