Salmon with White Wine, Sorrel, Cloves, and Cinnamonby Kendall

This recipe comes from a very old cookbook, The Compleat Cook, published in London in 1658. It’s an interesting take on the typical salmon recipes, with a marinade of vinegar, white wine, and sweet herbs and spices such as sorrel, cloves, mace, and cinnamon.

The original text is below, and I’ve attempted to translate it into modern English so you can try this recipe the next time you find some nice salmon at the market. It’s one of those light summer dinner recipes, so Let me know how it turns out!

An excellent way of dressing Fish.

Take a piece of fresh Salmon, and wash it clean in a little Vinegar and
water, and let it lie a while in it, then put it into a great Pipkin
with a cover, and put to it some six spoonfuls of water and four of
Vinegar, and as much of white-wine, a good deal of Salt a handful of
sweet herbs, a little white Sorrel, a few Cloves, a little stick of
Cinamon, a little Mace; put all these in a Pipkin close, and set it in a
Kettle of seething water, and there let it stew three hours.

You may do Carps, Eeles, Trouts, &c. this way, and they Tast also to
your mind.

Salmon with White Wine, Sorrel, Cloves, and Cinnamon

Pour into a shallow bowl equal parts vinegar and white wine. Add salt, pepper, marjoram, summer savory, bay leaf, sage, thyme, cloves, ground cinnamon, and a pinch of ground mace. Let marinate overnight.

Remove fillet from marinade and either bake or grill it (I don’t think stewed salmon has the greatest consistency). It shouldn’t take long–15-20 mins. in the oven. It will be done when the meat is flaky. If it’s summertime and the grill is fired up, put some asparagus or zucchinis (cut down the middle and basted with olive oil) on the BBQ and serve with the salmon, along with a fresh salad and chilled white wine.

Mmmmmm…