During my boyhood in a small village in France, we were able to preserve a few foods past their seasons. We salted some, dried others, canned a few, and made sweet preserves with our small fruits. But these were really only makeshifts. For really good eating, we always looked forward to each food as it came into its season. Today, in this country, canning, freezing, and dehydrating have been so perfected that all perishable foodstuffs are carried an year round abundance. Yet we can never escape the fact that there are still some foods which lose something indescribable in delicacy or fine flavor when man tries to alter nature's plans.
One key to good eating is knowing when various foods are at their best. Vegetables, meat, and poultry are most tender and juicy while still young. On the other hand, many fruits are best when almost dead ripe, and fish when maturity makes the flesh plump and succulent.
One of the skills of a chef obviously lies in this knowledge of foods at their peak. If you wonder why certain foods always seem to be so good in first-class restaurants, it is because the chef serves them frequently when they are in season and at their prime. This is so easy it is hardly a trick. You can find out about foods whose seasons are unfamiliar to you either by reading about them or chatting with your grocer, butcher, and fish dealer.
Right now, in July, you should know that salmon is at its best. Of course, fresh salmon is in the markets during many months of the year, and the quick-freezing process extends its season over the whole twelve months. But I am speaking now of salmon at its high point of delectability, when its delicate pink meat is mast tender and moist and its distinctive flavor most subtle. It has been my experience that this prime salmon starts coming in from the West Coast in May and continues through July, just a little earlier than the Eastern salmon. The latter—most of it the famous Gaspé salmon of eastern Canada—has a season running from June through August. As you can sec, the two overlap during June and July, when the ample supply of fine specimens in all good fish markets should encourage salmon-lovers to serve it often.
Not only do the markets have plenty of wonderful salmon during these months, but the amateur fishermen are pulling in their share, too. I remember this was a favorite sport of the late Robert Walton Goelet, who built and owned the Ritz-Carlton and who was my boss for so many years. I could hardly forget his love for salmon fishing because of the hundreds of fish I repacked for him. Each week during the season, great wooden boxes filled with magnificent salmon carefully packed in snowy ice were shipped down from his camp in Canada for me to distribute to his friends.
Nor will I ever forget the telephone calls and messengers with notes from anxious households in which no one knew how to cook the salmon after they received it. It's pretty disappointing to be set for a piece of handsome, well cooked salmon and be faced with a broken-up mass of flesh, skin, and bones that have gone to bits in cooking—to say nothing of the embarrassment of the bonne ménagère. So here are the tricks to help the good housewife and her mate prepare salmon comme il faut.
I'll start with boiled salmon, probably the most popular way of cooking it and certainly convenient, because once cooked, it can be served in either of those two favorite dishes, hot with hollandaise sauce or cold with mayonnaise. The fish is cooked in a court-bouillon which is merely water seasoned and flavored with onion, celery, bay leaf, ct cetera (see recipe below). But the basic thing to remember is that the fish must be put into cold water—with its seasonings, of course—and that after it is brought to the boil, the heat should be turned down so that the salmon just simmers. Salmon flesh is extremely delicate, and if the fish is dropped into boiling water or allowed to boil rapidly, it will break apart. It is easier to handle and holds in shape better if well wrapped in cheesecloth.
The second trick is to leave the fish in the cooking liquor for a few minutes after turning off the heat, with the pan partially covered. This sets it, making serving and carving easier. If the salmon is to be served cold, however, remove the cover of the kettle when the court-bouillon has cooled a little, leaving the fish in the liquor until cold.
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