To dress salmon or trout in perfection in this style, it is quite necessary that the fish be dressed a short time after being caught.
Sportsmen well know that it is only while this kind of fish is yet almost alive that it retains that white creamy substance which appears between the flakes of the boiled fish, and which makes it so truly delicious: this is little known to London epicures.
If it be practicable to procure what is termed a live salmon, take out the gills, draw out the guts, &c, wash the fish and crimp it on either side, by making deep incisions with a very sharp knife, and then throw it into a large tub containing clean, cold, spring-water, fresh from the pump; the water to be changed every half-hour, and the salmon to remain in it for about two hours.
In crimping any sort of fish, the colder the water is the better; the coldness of the water petrifying the fish to a certain degree, gives it the firmness so much desired.
Put the crimped salmon on to boil in hot water, with a good handful of salt; allow it to boil gently on the side of the stove, remembering that all crimped fish require considerably less time to boil than plain fish.
As soon as the fish is done, it should be immediately drained from the water, dished up, and served with lobster and Dutch sauces, or else with the following sauce: viz.,— put half a pound of fresh churned butter into a clean stewpan with a tablespoonful of chopped parsley, nutmeg, pepper, and salt, and lemon-juice; work this with a spoon (the stewpan containing these ingredients immersed in hot water) until dissolved and mixed, and serve with crimped fish, in a sauceboat.
Note.—The foregoing instructions for crimped salmon and trout are placed here solely for the benefit of such of my readers as may be fortunate enough to live sufficiently near salmon fisheries to enjoy an occasional day's sport, to enable them, when they have been successful; to cook their prize in greatest perfection.