TWEED KETTLE (SCOTTISH SALMON HASH)
SOURCE: THEODORA FITZGIBBON. A TASTE OF SCOTLAND: SCOTTISH TRADITIONAL FOOD.
Rivers Tay, Spey, and Clyde may outsize the Tweed in Scotland, but they can never outmatch the latter on salmon productivity. The dense salmon distribution in the Tweed and its tributaries easily attracts anglers from the English border since the Environment Agency does not mandate rod license applications, whereas the sport fishing season annually runs for ten months. Historically, every fête champêtre in Tweed riverbank communities would be incomplete without cooking a live catch of salmon in elongated vessels of boiling water over a picnic fire. Bypassing the scaling, cleaning, and boning steps leaves behind a chaos of skin, entrails, and bones at the bottom of the poaching pan, which Scots call a “kettle”, thus conceiving the idiom, “a kettle of fish” to describe messy circumstances. As for the actual dish, its festiveness in the Scottish countryside drew the ale houses of Edinburgh during the 19th century to adopt and amend the rural recipes into skinless and boneless servings of salmon chunks while keeping the clean and herbaceous taste of the broth.
Ingredients
3 pounds/1.3 kg fresh salmon, skin on and preferably from the tail-end
2 tablespoons/20 grams finely chopped shallots
1 cup/250 mL dry white wine
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Pinch of ground mace
2 tablespoons/8 grams finely chopped parsley, preferably picked fresh on the same day for best results
Specific Equipment
Medium-sized pot or saucepan
Knife
Serves 6
Instructions
1. Bring water to a boil in a medium-sized pot or saucepan over medium heat. Reduce heat to a simmer and poach in the salmon for 5 minutes, making sure that the water completely covers the salmon. Remove the salmon immediately from the stock and set aside to cool slightly.
2. Reserve 1 cup/250 mL of the poaching liquid and stir in the shallots and white wine. Set aside and discard the rest of the poaching liquid.
3. Strip the salmon from its skin and pluck out the bones. Cut the salmon flesh to 2-inch/5-cm cubes and season with salt, pepper, and mace.
4. Bring the stock and wine to a simmer and poach in the salmon cubes over low heat for 25 minutes or until the salmon has fully absorbed the flavors. Adjust with salt and pepper according to taste.
5. Remove the pot or saucepan from heat and stir in the parsley. Divide the salmon and remaining stock to equal portions among individual serving bowls.
