Salmon Souffle

When a written recipe is circa 1880, unless you have a way to speak with the great-grandchild of the recipe creator, and unless this great-grandchild has been blessed with being taught by the family cooks as to the details that are not written in the recipe itself... then it is sometimes mighty hard to figure out how to cook said recipe, sans details.

This is my problem with Salmon Souffle--it lacks details. I read through the recipe, which is from The St. Croix Recipe Book for Cooking, published by the Ladies of the Second Baptist Church in Calais, and I have so many questions. Now, I happen to know right where the Second Baptist Church is located, as I've attended several Christian concerts there.  Wish I knew someone from that church who makes this recipe to this day, and could answer my questions.

Lacking such connection to culinary wisdom, I decide to focus on the part of the recipe that appealed to me the most.  The very last sentence refers to "puff paste...in a quick oven." Could that refer to frozen Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry? In 1880? Not likely. However, with a nod to the past, and knowing that with the price of salmon these days, I could not afford to botch this recipe, I decided to simply wrap salmon in Puff Pastry and bake it at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.  Which turned out to be an excellent decision!  The salmon was cooked, but not overly so. The puff wrap, which I had basted with an egg wash, turned a lovely brown.  The puff melded with the salmon to make a mouthful of delectable salmon pastry!

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