Friday, June 5, 2015

Never Doubt Dorie

Even though I absolutely hated the outcome of the Salmon and Potatoes in a Jar recipe from Around My French Table, it seems like the perfect write-up for this week's French Fridays with Dorie post, in which we were tasked to "Choose the recipe that might not have been your favorite or even something you enjoyed making or even something you were skeptical about but which taught you a technique or gave you an idea or provided a lesson of some kind."

I did not enjoy making or eating this recipe, in which salmon is brined, then packed into a jar with olive oil, herbs, and vegetables. I was 100% skeptical of it, going in. I knew I would hate it, and so I instantly started backtracking and trying to find ways to not follow the recipe. Granted, I did follow the Roasted Cured Salmon bonne idee, so I didn't go totally rogue, but it turned out horridly. I know that cured fish is technically not raw, but when starting with such dull looking salmon to begin with, cured was too raw for me. I roasted it, and it turned into an overly fishy salt-bomb. This provided the lesson. Two lessons, actually.

Lesson 1: Always, always, always use the freshest ingredients possible. My salmon was gross looking, straight from the supermarket, and so there was no chance in the world I was going to prepare it as written. I should have looked harder for a better product.

Lesson 2: As I quote Matt as saying in my original post for this recipe, "Next time, just trust Dorie!!" It was years ago, but I can still hear his wail as he tried to scrape all that salty fish off his tongue. It was pretty funny.

Going rogue works for some people, but for me, I'm better off when I just trust Dorie.

15 comments:

  1. That's a cute story :-)
    I was not a fan of salmon in a jar either. It sounds like Matt was a trooper about it, though. In addition to trusting Dorie, this venture has also increased my ability to trust myself and know when something is not going to work for me (I wish I had learned that lesson a little sooner in life).

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  2. The salmon in a jar was gross, whichever way you handled it. You learned some good lessons from it though.

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  3. Yep, I think that I may be confirmed as the only person who liked that recipe. I've even gone on to repeat it several times. I agree with the trusting Dorie part, but it's hard to do without fresh ingredients. I'm also very careful around raw fish (cured or not) and probably would have gone down the same road you did if I had not been able to find super fresh fish.

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  4. That's a wonderful story! It's true that we've all had success going rogue on occasion, but I think that it's because we've trusted Dorie in general and have a better basis for making those decisions with her recipes. I love that it was your husband that brought that lesson home for you! Our families are all Doristas once removed.

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  5. Sorry about the salmon, but it's a great story! xoDorie

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  6. I didn't make the salmon in a jar and I'm not sure sure it will make my "makeup" list either, but I agree wholeheartedly with you on the "trusting Dorie" issue. It's what my entire post is about this week!

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  7. I think that devoting four years to cooking through a book will do wonders for anyone's kitchen confidence. I can go rogue now on other recipes with everything I've learned through AMFT.

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  8. I never made the salmon in the jar, sounded uninteresting. I have both trusted Dorie and gone rogue... sometimes when I have seen others results I believe as Frank would say "Doing it my way" was a good idea. but other times I humbly admit Dorie knew best.

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  9. "overly fishy salt-bomb" does not sound like good eats. Thankful I avoided this one, it got too much negative press in the group.

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  10. I am so charmed by this post! I didn't make this recipe, I'm sure that I was thankful that week for a schedule that didn't work. I totally agree that it's so important to get fresh ingredients - particularly when it is salmon (I'm picky) or something that will be served raw(ish). But I love that you went for it anyway. There were only a few recipes that I made that really "had to go". I think I dodged a bullet with this one, unless I'd just been salmon fishing!!! Love it!

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  11. Great post, it's fun to see some of the recipes that just didn't work for different people.
    I think the one I disliked the most was pumpkin and blue cheese.

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  12. Great post! The mental picture of Matt scraping salty salmon off his tongue made me laugh:) Salmon in a jar does not work for me. At. All.

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  13. It is always good to remember to use the freshest ingredients! Bummer that this was such a yuck recipe but glad you can look back at it and remember to trust Dorie! ;)

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  14. Great post with perfect lessons learned. Rose isn't the only one who loved Salmon in a Jar. I'm the other one. Try it again with fresh salmon! Trust Dorie!

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  15. Hahaha. Very funny post. I can hear my husband saying the exact same thing.

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