about 45 minutes. Have the salmon eviscerated, gills removed, and fins trimmed. Brush outside with oil and season cavity with salt and pepper. Lay the fish on an oiled rack in a fish poacher or roaster and wrap rack and salmon in washed cheesecloth. Strew around the fish 2 cups of thinly sliced sautéed onions and 1 cup each of sautéed sliced carrots and celery, and a medium herb bouquet with parsley, bay, and tarragon. Pour in 4 cups of dry white wine or 3 cups of dry white French vermouth plus fish or light chicken stock to a depth of 1 inch. Bring to the simmer on top of the stove and seal top of poacher with heavy foil and a lid. Maintain at a slow simmer, basting rapidly several times with pan liquids. The fish is done at a thermometer reading of 150°F. Remove fish, slide onto serving platter, and keep warm. Drain cooking liquid out of poacher into saucepan, pressing juices out of vegetables. Boil down to a syrupy 1 cup. Enrich, if you wish, with heavy cream and a swirling of butter and chopped fresh parsley.
Steamed Lobsters
Approximate cooking times: 10 minutes for 1-pounders; 12 to 13 for 1¼-pounders; 14 to 15 for 1½-pounders; 18 minutes for 2-pounders. Fit a rack in a 5-gallon pot and fill with 2 inches of seawater, or tap water with 1½ teaspoons salt per quart. Cover and bring to the rapid boil, then quickly drop in 6 live lobsters headfirst. Cover the pot and weight down the lid to make a firm seal. As soon as steam appears, begin timing as indicated. A lobster is probably done when the long antennas pull out easily. But to be sure, turn the lobster over and slit open the chest to see the tomalley—if all black, cook several minutes more, until tomalley is pale green. Accompany with melted butter and lemon wedges.
Egg Cookery
“It behooves us to choose eggs carefully and to treat them right.”
Eggs appear throughout cookery not only as themselves—in their omelet, scrambled, poached, stuffed, and soft-boiled guises—but as puff producers in cakes and soufflés, as thickeners for sauces and custards, and, of course, as the stars and starters for those two noble and addictive creations, hollandaise and mayonnaise.
BUYING AND STORING EGGS. It behooves us to choose eggs carefully and to treat them right. Because at room temperature they make a warm and comfortable home for evil bacteria, always buy refrigerated eggs, never buy cracked or dirty eggs, always bring your eggs home in a refrigerated container, and keep eggs chilled until the moment you are to use them.
MASTER RECIPE
The French Omelet
The perfect omelet is a gently oval shape of coagulated egg enclosing a tender custard of eggs. It can be a plain breakfast omelet flavored only with salt, pepper, and butter, or it can be a quick main course luncheon omelet filled or garnished with chicken livers, mushrooms, spinach, truffles, smoked salmon, or whatever the cook wishes—an attractive use for nice leftovers, by the way. And you can make an omelet in a number of ways, such as the scrambled technique, the tilt-and-fold method, and so forth. I have always preferred the 2-to-3-egg omelet made by my old French chef teacher’s shake-and-jerk system, as follows.
If this is your first attempt, go through the movements of the jerk—and note it is not a toss, it is a straight jerk toward you—and practice the unmolding technique. Serve the whole family for breakfast, so you’ll be making 4 or 5 omelets or more and will get the feel. It’s a very fast lesson, since an omelet takes only about 20 seconds to make.
For a 2-to-3-egg omelet, serving 1 person
2 jumbo or extra-large eggs, or 3 large or medium eggs
Big pinch of salt
Several grinds of pepper
1 tsp cold water, optional, for a more perfect blending of yolks and whites
1 Tbs unsalted butter
Have a warm plate at your side, as well as butter, a sprig or two of parsley, and a rubber spatula. Break the eggs into a mixing bowl and whisk just enough to blend them with the salt, pepper, and optional
Steamed Lobsters
Approximate cooking times: 10 minutes for 1-pounders; 12 to 13 for 1¼-pounders; 14 to 15 for 1½-pounders; 18 minutes for 2-pounders. Fit a rack in a 5-gallon pot and fill with 2 inches of seawater, or tap water with 1½ teaspoons salt per quart. Cover and bring to the rapid boil, then quickly drop in 6 live lobsters headfirst. Cover the pot and weight down the lid to make a firm seal. As soon as steam appears, begin timing as indicated. A lobster is probably done when the long antennas pull out easily. But to be sure, turn the lobster over and slit open the chest to see the tomalley—if all black, cook several minutes more, until tomalley is pale green. Accompany with melted butter and lemon wedges.
Egg Cookery
“It behooves us to choose eggs carefully and to treat them right.”
Eggs appear throughout cookery not only as themselves—in their omelet, scrambled, poached, stuffed, and soft-boiled guises—but as puff producers in cakes and soufflés, as thickeners for sauces and custards, and, of course, as the stars and starters for those two noble and addictive creations, hollandaise and mayonnaise.
BUYING AND STORING EGGS. It behooves us to choose eggs carefully and to treat them right. Because at room temperature they make a warm and comfortable home for evil bacteria, always buy refrigerated eggs, never buy cracked or dirty eggs, always bring your eggs home in a refrigerated container, and keep eggs chilled until the moment you are to use them.
MASTER RECIPE
The French Omelet
The perfect omelet is a gently oval shape of coagulated egg enclosing a tender custard of eggs. It can be a plain breakfast omelet flavored only with salt, pepper, and butter, or it can be a quick main course luncheon omelet filled or garnished with chicken livers, mushrooms, spinach, truffles, smoked salmon, or whatever the cook wishes—an attractive use for nice leftovers, by the way. And you can make an omelet in a number of ways, such as the scrambled technique, the tilt-and-fold method, and so forth. I have always preferred the 2-to-3-egg omelet made by my old French chef teacher’s shake-and-jerk system, as follows.
If this is your first attempt, go through the movements of the jerk—and note it is not a toss, it is a straight jerk toward you—and practice the unmolding technique. Serve the whole family for breakfast, so you’ll be making 4 or 5 omelets or more and will get the feel. It’s a very fast lesson, since an omelet takes only about 20 seconds to make.
For a 2-to-3-egg omelet, serving 1 person
2 jumbo or extra-large eggs, or 3 large or medium eggs
Big pinch of salt
Several grinds of pepper
1 tsp cold water, optional, for a more perfect blending of yolks and whites
1 Tbs unsalted butter
Have a warm plate at your side, as well as butter, a sprig or two of parsley, and a rubber spatula. Break the eggs into a mixing bowl and whisk just enough to blend them with the salt, pepper, and optional
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