America’s Test Kitchen 3rd “Dish It Your Way” Blogger Challenge: Salmon

This is America’s Test Kitchen 3^rd “Dish It Your Way” Blogger Challenge.  The “Dish It Your Way” asks blogger to recreate an American classic dish throughout the summer, share the recipe, and tell a story.  This week: Salmon!

After days of rain, I was thrilled to find the sun shining through the kitchen window.  “At last”, I thought to myself, “a good day.” 

I finish my coffee and happily trot to the mailbox; bonus day: the July/August edition of Cook’s Illustrated has just arrived.  I open it and scan down the list of new recipes.  Then, my eyes jump out of their sockets: “Salmon Cakes”.

“What?”

 I quickly flip to the page. 

“No”, I scream.

Suddenly, the blue skies cloud over and a chilly wind begins to blow.

“What’s the matter?”  Christophe asks when I get back to the house.

“My recipe for the salmon challenge!  They published it!  Cook’s Illustrated stole my recipe!”

“The one you made for our wedding?”  He asks with a chuckle.  “Now what are you going to do?”  He prods me with a smile.

And with that, my Ace in the hole was gone…

After I calm down, I look over the recipe more carefully.  I’m a Midwesterner for Pete’s sake, how was I to know fish cakes were such a New England mainstay?  I thought I was being cleaver modifying a crab cake recipe.  Christophe loves my salmon cakes, and I even made them for our wedding.



Look at the time stamp on the photo - 2007! 
That's four year before Cook's Illustrated published their salmon cake recipe!



Yes, that was my story.  Salmon cakes and a French country wedding….

Being a bicultural couple, we had our choice where to get married, in the United States or France - we decided on France. The road to our village of 15 inhabitants is a nine mile climb up a single lane mountain road next to plummeting caverns tumbling down into nothing below.  No caterer was going to come to us, so in a true country wedding fashion, we decided to make the food ourselves.  The main dish was easily decided, we would grill a few lambs from a family farm; however, the first course was not as easily found.  After numerous tests and many failures, I thought about making salmon cakes.  They took some work, but had the delicate presentation we were looking for.  I made close to one hundred of them days before the wedding.  Night after night, Christophe would come home from work with another salmon in his hand and I would launch into a project of deboning and seasoning the salmon before creating the delicate cakes.  When served, they had the desired effect because everyone devoured them and raved about the originality of the course.

Obviously, I exaggerated when I stated Cook’s Illustrated stole my recipe.  There are some differences, but, being that my winning recipe was published by them, there is no way I could enter their cooking competition by simply retyping their recipe.  So, here is my plan B, my quick weeknight dinner, my not so ace in the hole, but a darn good standby.

Savory Poached Salmon

Ingredients:

4, 8 ounce salmon fillets

2 lemons

1 medium onion

Freshly chopped parsley

Sauce:

½ cup butter

3 Tablespoons soy sauce

2 Tablespoons tomato concentrate

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 Tablespoon mustard

1 crushed garlic clove

Combine, butter, soy sauce, tomato concentrate, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and garlic in a small saucepan. Simmer gently to bring all ingredients together.  Avoid boiling the liquid.

In a large skillet, place ¼ inch of water.   Cut the ends off the lemons, and place ½ of a lemon a side for later use.   With the remaining 1 and ½ lemons, and cut eight thick slices.  Place the slices in the water and place one fillet onto of two lemon slices.  Each fillet should hover slightly over the water.  This allows for the fish to be poached without becoming water logged and losing flavor.

Next, cut the onion and the remaining ½ lemon into thin slices.  Brush each fillet with the sauce, then layer with onions and lemon.  Brush again with sauce.  Place on high heat until the water comes to a simmer, then cover, and reduce heat to low.  Cook between 10 -15 minutes (the thickest part of the fish should reach 125 degrees).  The sides of the fish should be opaque, but the center slightly translucent.  Remove from heat and plate fillet with onions and lemons.  Serve with additional sauce and garnish with fresh parsley.

And, yes, while I did not take their recipe as whole, I did adapt the cooking method from their “Flavorful Poached Salmon” (May/June 2008).  It was much easier to get the temperature just right rather than cooking in the oven like I had done in the past.

Here’s hoping Cook’s Illustrated doesn’t have a wiretap to my brain, if so, my Roquefort flavored mac n’cheese is finished and my macaroon inspired cupcakes are a gonner for their future competitions.