The Salmon Salad of Mr. Cooper, Chief Cook to the Late King

I apologize once again for missing a day.  I received some news yesterday that was quite exciting and which means that by next week the blog will be coming to you from a new continent.  But more on that in the coming days. Unfortunately, the entry for yesterday got forgotten in the rush to begin the process of leaving.

 

The topic for yesterday which becomes the topic for today is an Early Modern salmon salad.  I tried my hand at filleting a salmon a while ago and had a fair numbers of scraps left over, which I ended up freezing.  I had seen a recipe in an old cookery text for a salmon salad and thought it would be an interesting way to test some old cookery and use up the fish.

 

The recipe I had seen was from one my favourite texts, The Art of Cookery Refin'd and Augmented by Joseph Cooper, “chief cook to the late king,” published in 1654.  The instructions read:  

How to make a Sallet of Salmon.

When the fresh Salmon is boiled, mince it small with Apples and Onions, then mix it with Oil and Vinegar, a little Salt and Pepper; sippit [mostly likely meaning cut up small] it, and serve it up. Pickled Herrings are excellent with the same ingredients.

In my modernization attempt, I could not bring myself to boil the salmon, so I steamed it in chunks.  If I were to make this again and had whole salmon or larger pieces, I would steam the whole then break it up. Steaming it in pieces left the salmon covered with the milky white residue that you get with fish sometime.  I ended up with:

            About 3 cups of cooked salmon pieces

To which I added:

           

            1/2 of a medium onion, sliced thin

 1 slightly unripe Golden Delicious apple, cored and roughly chopped (a Granny Smith would probably work very well)

I found another topic for further research when I wondered what kind of oil Cooper would be referring to in 1654.  Olive oil was a regular import in the period but whether he meant that or something local I don’t yet know.  I decided on:

            3 Tbsp of vegetable oil

along with:

            2 Tbsp of Apple Cider Vinegar

             ½ tsp salt

            2 grinds of pepper

 

The sweet and sour, the crunch of the apple and onion and the seasoning accompaniments, even with salmon that wasn’t the best, made this one of my favourite Early Modern recipes to date.