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Tip Of The Week
Salmon Poacher's Delight
To cook this recipe I use an oval casserole
dish which is large enough to hold a fish of up
to about 4 kilos (eight pounds) in weight and
in which I place a triple folded strip of kitchen
foil slightly longer than the pot.
What's that for? To lift the fish out once it's
cooked, which is done by pulling the two ends of the foil
apart so that the fish lifts up on it as if on a stretcher.
You then keep it taut while transferring the fish to a
suitable dish. It's a little tricky but easily managed with
care. Try it with the uncooked fish first.
Here's the easy bit:
First put your fish into the pot you are going to cook it in
and cover it with cold water. In this way you will have
exactly the right amount for whatever size of fish you
are cooking.
Next take the fish out, leave it to one side, and add the
following to your water:
· 2 wine glasses of vermouth, dry white wine or very dry
sherry
· 1 onion, peeled, cut in half and studded with 2 cloves
in each half
· 1-2 bay leaves
· 6 whole peppercorns
· 1 carrot cut into quarters
· the pared-off rind of half a lemon
Bring this all to the boil, take it off the heat, add your
fish, cover and leave to cool.
That's it. Who said cooking fish was difficult?
Once cold, the skin will easily peel off the fish and you
can either decorate it with finely sliced cucumber (to
look like scales) and mayonnaise, or simply serve it,
which is what I do.
If you do want to present the "whole" fish, you might
want to remove the bones to make it easier to serve.
This is not really as difficult as you might think, although
a little care is needed.
First remove the skin from the body of the fish, but leave
the head whole. Then, using a fish slice and your hand,
carefully remove the top fillet (the half nearest the head)
and lay it, skinned side down, on your serving dish. Do
the same with the flesh at the tail end. Check for any
small bones and remove them.
You can now see the entire backbone. Snip this off at
the head and tail, carefully remove it from the bottom
half of the fish and discard it.
The rest is very easy. Put the bottom fillet on top of the
one already on your serving dish, replace the head and
tail in their correct position and disguise the joins with
piped mayonnaise and/or sliced cucumber.
You can now decorate to your hearts content and in
whatever fashion you wish. Just be sure to cover over
any damage to the fillets caused by your handling of
them.