Saveur: The New Comfort Food (15 page)
Read Saveur: The New Comfort Food Online
Authors: James Oseland
Meaty salmon steaks take well to broiling with sweet roasted vegetables and herbs.
½ cup plus 4 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
2 large yellow onions
4 medium tomatoes
16 cloves garlic, smashed
10 sprigs each of fresh thyme and oregano, plus ½ tbsp. each of fresh thyme and fresh oregano leaves, roughly chopped Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4 10-oz. bone-in salmon steaks
4 thin slices of lemon
2 tbsp. fresh tarragon leaves
2 tbsp. Pernod
Serves 4
1. Heat oven to 450°F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and grease it with ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil.
2. Cut onions into ¼ -inch-thick rings; cut tomatoes into ½ -inch slices. Spread out the onions and tomatoes on the baking sheet to form a bed for the salmon steaks. Tuck garlic, thyme, and oregano between vegetables and drizzle with ¼ cup olive oil. Season the vegetables with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Roast the vegetables until soft and lightly browned, about 25 minutes.
3. Remove the baking sheet from the oven. Set an oven rack 3 inches from the broiler element; heat oven to broil. Arrange salmon steaks on top of the roasted vegetables and drizzle with 2 tbsp. oil, and season with freshly ground black pepper to taste. Place 1 slice of lemon on each salmon steak and sprinkle ½ tbsp. chopped thyme and ½ tbsp. chopped oregano over the fish. Broil salmon until lightly browned and just cooked through, about 5 minutes.
4. To serve, transfer salmon and vegetables to a platter. Sprinkle with tarragon, Pernod, and remaining oil.
Each summer, they rush upriver with remarkable urgency—schools of indomitable salmon, leaping skyward in glistening arcs of silver as they return from the ocean depths to their freshwater birthplaces to spawn. For centuries, North American fisher-men and cooks have eagerly awaited this annual spring pilgrimage; it signals a return to a season of abundance and vitality in the kitchen. Different waterways along North America’s West Coast attract different species of Pacific salmon (see “Know Your Salmon”): Alaska’s Yukon River, for example, is known for king salmon, while Washington’s Puget Sound yields mostly pink and sockeye salmon. On the Atlantic, however, wild salmon populations are less than half of what they were only 20 years ago; just a few countries in the North Atlantic, including Ireland and Iceland, still support a very small salmon fishery.
Different varieties of salmon vary substantially in taste and texture, but they all share one cardinal trait: a high fat content, which gives their flesh a rich flavor and lush texture. All wild salmon taste their best when caught just before their journey home to freshwater spawning grounds, since they prepare for the trip by fattening up on ocean crustaceans. Featured here are the six varieties available in the United States. Also known as chinook salmon, the mighty king
1
can weigh well over a hundred pounds; its habitat ranges from California to Alaska. The meaty fish has a pure flavor and ample fat and cooks beautifully over a charcoal fire. The coho salmon
2
, also called silver salmon, constitutes just 10 percent of the commercial salmon fishery in the United States. Making its home in the waters from Oregon to Alaska and available in markets from late summer through fall, the fish has a firm texture and a rich, gamy flavor suited to simple preparations like poaching. Pink salmon
3
, also called humpback salmon, is the smallest variety available in this country, averaging only five pounds; the most abundant of our salmons, it’s often canned. Lower in fat, its delicate, sweet flesh has a subtle flavor best brought out by pan-frying or whole-roasting. Sometimes known as leaper salmon, the Atlantic salmon
4
once flour-ished in North Atlantic waters, but overfishing, pollution, and a host of other factors have decimated wild stocks. Demand for this fatty, full-flavored salmon, probably the most versatile variety when it comes to cooking, is met mostly by fish farms, which now produce more than half of all the salmon sold in this country. The flesh of the red salmon, or sockeye, salmon
5
, a variety of Pacific salmon whose range stretches from British Columbia to Alaska and which is the second-fattiest type, has a distinctive, deep orange-red color and is dense and full-flavored. Sockeye, which first comes to market in May, is usually the variety favored for raw preparations. The abundant and relatively neutral-tasting chum salmon
6
, sometimes called keta salmon, is second only to the king in size and inhabits waters throughout the Pacific Northwest; chum salmon is harvested in the late fall and is most often canned, smoked, or cured.
Melt-in-your-mouth fried catfish is a veritable birthright if you’re from the Deep South, where family-style restaurants called catfish houses are fixtures of the rural landscape. This dish doesn’t call for any dressing up, aside from a big spoonful of tangy tartar sauce and an ice-cold beer.
Canola or peanut oil, for frying
2 cups yellow cornmeal
1
1
/
3
cups flour¼ cup seasoned salt, such as Lawry’s
2 tbsp. baking powder
1 tbsp. freshly ground black pepper
4 3- to 5-oz. boneless, skinless catfish filets or bone-in, skinless catfish steaks
½ lemon, cut into wedges, for serving Tartar sauce, for serving
Serves 2
1. Pour oil into an 8-qt. pot to a depth of 3 inches and heat over medium-high heat until a deep-fry thermometer reads 350°F.
2. Meanwhile, combine the cornmeal, flour, seasoned salt, baking powder, and pepper in a large bowl. Add the catfish and toss to coat. Gently shake off the excess cornmeal mixture and transfer the catfish to a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet.
3. Working in 2 batches, fry the catfish in the hot oil until golden brown and cooked through, about 6 minutes. Using tongs, transfer the catfish to a wire cooling rack set over a rimmed baking sheet to drain. Transfer the fish to 2 plates and serve with a lemon wedge and tartar sauce.
On a Saturday night in Mississippi, there’s always a wait at the local catfish houses, those family-style fried-fish restaurants that serve cornmeal-dusted filets piled on a plate with lemon wedges, tartar sauce, and a mound of fries and hush puppies. “Catfish is to Mississippi what crawfish is to Louisiana,” says Brandon Hughes, a fry cook at Taylor Grocery, a popular catfish house in Oxford, Mississippi. There are 28 North American species of catfish (so named because of its whiskers, or barbels, which the fish uses to search for food), and many others that are native to parts of Asia, where catfish is also prized, but it is Ictalurus punctatus, commonly called channel catfish, that is favored across the American South. The fish fried at places like Taylor’s and Carmack aren’t wild: they are sustainably farmed in the Mississippi Delta. Catfish may be the world’s only widely consumed fish that tastes better farmed than wild. Wild catfish feed on the pond bed, which gives them a muddy flavor, but farm-raised fish have a sweet, clean, and nutty taste that lends itself to even more than frying; it’s also a perfect canvas for everything from rémoulade-smothered po’boys to fiery curries. Catfish has long been considered a trash fish, a misconception that a single bite of farmed catfish will instantly erase. “The catfish,” wrote Mark Twain, “is good enough fish for anybody.” You don’t have to tell that to the folks in Mississippi, where catfish is king.
—Hunter Lewis
These pan-fried cod cakes, served with a tart-sweet relish of pickled vegetables called chowchow, come from Eva Murphy, a home cook in Cape Breton Island, off Nova Scotia, who also shared her corn chowder recipe (
Creamy Corn Chowder
). The dish makes good use of the firm-fleshed cod caught nearby.
FOR THE CHOWCHOW:
1½ lbs. unripe green tomatoes, cored and minced
1 yellow onion, minced
1 rib celery, minced
½ medium green bell pepper, cored, seeded, and minced
½ medium red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and minced
2 tbsp. kosher salt
½ cup sugar
1
/
3
cup distilled white vinegar1½ tsp. dry mustard
1½ tsp. yellow mustard seeds
1 tsp. celery seeds
1 tsp. crushed chile flakes
¼ tsp. ground coriander
FOR THE COD CAKES:
6 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
2 ribs celery, minced
1 medium onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 russet potatoes (about 1 lb.), peeled and cut into ¼ -inch cubes Kosher salt, to taste
1 lb. boneless, skinless cod filets Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
½ cup dried bread crumbs
¼ cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp. minced fresh dill
2 tbsp. minced parsley
1 egg yolk, beaten
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
4 tbsp. unsalted butter
Serves 4
1. Make the chowchow: Toss the tomatoes, onions, celery, and peppers in a large bowl with the salt. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 4 hours or overnight. Transfer the vegetables to a sieve and press to extract the excess juices; discard the juices.
2. Transfer the vegetables to a 6-qt. saucepan and add the remaining ingredients. Cover, bring the mixture to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are very soft, about 2 ½ hours. Transfer the relish to a jar and let cool. Cover and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.
3. Make the cod cakes: Heat 2 tbsp. oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Add the celery, onions, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 8 minutes. Transfer the celery–onion mixture to a large bowl and set aside.
4. Put the potatoes into a 4-qt. pot, cover with salted water by 1 inch, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Drain; transfer half the potatoes to a plate and set aside to let cool. Transfer the remaining potatoes to a bowl and mash with a fork. Transfer the mashed potatoes to the reserved bowl of celery–onion mixture and set aside to cool.
5. Season the cod with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tbsp. oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the cod and cook, turning once with a metal spatula, until cooked through, about 8 minutes. Transfer the cod filets to a plate and let cool. Break the cod into 1-inch chunks and set aside.
6. Add the bread crumbs, mayonnaise, herbs, egg yolk, and lemon juice to the potato–onion mixture and stir vigorously to combine. Add the reserved cubed potatoes and the cod and mix gently to combine. Using your hands, divide the mixture into 8 equal portions and form into cakes approximately 3 inches in diameter. Transfer the cakes to a wax paper–lined baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes until firm.
7. Working in 2 batches, heat remaining oil and butter in the skillet over medium-high heat. Add the cod cakes and cook, flipping once, until golden brown, about 8 minutes. Transfer cakes to a platter. Serve with chowchow and lemon halves, if you like.
