Poached Salmon

[torakris]

My mother is currently on an extremely bland diet, under doctor's orders at least until Friday when her tests come back. No salt, pepper, spices, acids, oils, etc.....

I am trying to think of things to make for her that will also taste good for the rest of the family. I thought poached salmon would be good (tonight I will also prepare steamed asparagus, a tomato salad and rice) but I have only poached salmon once before. I think it was a Bittman recipe and it had some wine it as well, the wine, water and some aromatics were brought to a boil then the fish was placed inside. The heat was turned off and the pan covered and it was left to sit for a while.

Does this sound right?

can I do it without the wine?

any ideas for a sauce for the rest of the family?

Something that children might enjoy? 8 of the 15 people I am cooking for are children.

I picked up a bag of limes at Costco yesterday along with the salmon...

[helenjp]

Sounds as if your mother is being very co-operative. I gave up when I discovered that my mother's daily diet consisted of one entire hot salami, and nothing else...when I tried to remonstrate, she just pointed out sweetly and reasonably that she HAD divided it into thirds, one portion for each meal.

If you leave the wine out, how about adding a spoonful or so of vinegar - it's more robust than lemon juice, which can disappear from a poaching liquid. Think I used things like parsley stems, a bayleaf, and a few whole peppercorns (which are then removed from the finished dish, so much less impact than grinding pepper into or over the dish, but you could leave them and the bayleaf out. Don't think parsley stems are likely to cause harm, though).

My recipe says to put the fish into the cold poaching liquid, but the best "boiled" fish I've ever made was with a Shuttle Chef pot, where I simmered the liquid and then added the fish, slammed on the lid, and placed the pot in its insulated cover, so the "switch off and leave" idea sounds good to me.

Sauce - the poaching liquid itself is nice poured sparingly over each serving, but for the rest of the family, how about a lime mayonnaise?

Edited July 18, 2005 by helenjp (log)

[jayt90]

Using vinegar, lemon juice, or lime juice in the poaching liquid might be too harsh if you make a sauce for Mom. I would stick with a half bottle of low acid wine, perhaps chardonnay.

Your poaching technique is excellent, but I would finish with a bechamel sauce, using poach-stock, and milk or light cream. Light enough for a bland diet.

[Msk]

I typically cook Salmon using a poor man's sous vide. I don't suppose you have access to a foodsaver. I find Salmon poached in a sealed Foodsaver bag 150 degree water for about 5 minutes per side tastes great with just a little butter and lemon thrown inside the bag before sealing. Omit the lemon if you have to.

Salmon is far from my favorite fish, but this way I enjoy it thoroughly. Its moist, and has zero fishy odor or taste. The butter makes a great sauce that tastes like a concentrated fish stock. It also couldn't be easier to clean up.

Msk

[Sartain]

Kris:

For the sauce for the rest of the family, there is always the classic bonne femme: basically a cream reduction sauce. Remove the fillets after they are done poaching, the add some sliced mushrooms to the poaching liquid and let it reduce for a minute or two. Then finish with half a cup of heavy cream and let it reduce till it reaches sauce consistency. Adjust seasonings, throw in some chopped parsley.

Thanks for reminding me of this, I may try this tonight.

S.

[Stagiaire]

A nice trick is to reduce the cream separately so in case you over reduce it, you don't have to throw the sauce away. After reducing the cream, mix it in with your reduced sauce....

[jackal10]

Buy a digtal thermometer. Cook your salmon to 45C/115F. Perfect every time.

Sauces are many, both hot and cold. Hollandise is great.

[LizD518]

Bumping this up to ask about the ratio of poaching liquid to fish. I have never poached salmon, or any other fish, before, but I have a piece of about 12oz or so that I am going to poach so that I can use it in another recipe (salmon pies). Do I just use enough liquid to cover - or more than that?

Edited December 6, 2009 by LizD518 (log)

[dougal]

Little as possible, really.

The extreme is to poach it without having the poaching liquid contact the salmon.

Do that either of two ways -

-- steam it

or

-- vacpack it and poach it sous vide style in the bag. Then the quantity (and flavour) of the liquid in the pan doesn't matter at all -- but I'd use a big pan of water to keep the temperature steadier.

Put your wine or a slice of lemon inside the bag. Use less, it does more in close contact!

Use the juices in the sauce for the pie.

If you are cooking it some more in the pie, undercook at the poaching stage.

The "bring it to the boil, turn the heat off and let it go cold" method is usually advocated for whole fish, to be served cold. It makes for a very moist/succulent cold fish.