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📝 Description
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🥘 Ingredients
2 slices of salmon, 2 chopped shalots, a little parsley, a small bunch of herbs, 2 bay-leaves, 2 carrots, pounded mace, pepper and salt to taste, 4 tablespoonfuls of Madeira, 1/2 pint of white stock (No. 107), thickening of butter and flour, 1 teaspoonful of essence of anchovies, the juice of 1 lemon, cayenne and salt to taste.
👨🍳 Method
Rub the bottom of a stewpan over with butter, and put in the shalots, herbs, bay-leaves, carrots, mace, and seasoning; stir them for 10 minutes over a clear fire, and add the Madeira or sherry; simmer gently for 1/2 hour, and strain through a sieve over the fish, which stew in this gravy. As soon as the fish is sufficiently cooked, take away all the liquor, except a little to keep the salmon moist, and put it into another stewpan; add the stock, thicken with butter and flour, and put in the anchovies, lemon-juice, cayenne, and salt; lay the salmon on a hot dish, pour over it part of the sauce, and serve the remainder in a tureen.
📜 From Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management (1861). Public domain.
⭐ Reader Reviews
Honest opinions from readers who have explored this book.
I tried my hand at Mrs. Beeton's Salmon à la Genevese, expecting a simple poached salmon dish, but the complexity of the sauce surprised me. The mace was the star of the show, its warm, slightly sweet, and piney notes wove through the Madeira and anchovy essence, creating a depth of flavor that belied the recipe's age. This dish would be a delight for the weeknight cook looking to elevate their midweek meals. The technique is straightforward, but the end result is far from mundane. The key is not to rush the simmering of the shalots, herbs, and spices in the Madeira — it builds the foundation for a sauce that's worth the effort. I served it with some steamed greens and new potatoes, and it was a comforting, yet elegant, end to the day. The recipe, as written, produces enough sauce to generously coat the salmon and have some left over for drizzling. It's a keeper, and I'll be making it again soon.
