Sarada-
When you cook the salmon there are a few tricks that can help you out
Put a roll of crumpled aluminum foil in the fish's cavity to give it some support when you take it out of the pan.
You can give the salmon a gentle curve by tying a piece of butchers twine through the gills and at the tail.
After cooking the tail and head are easily broken off and no amount of repairs will make it look good.
If you don't have the equipment to do a full immersion poach you can "braise" the fish in the oven. Put the fish, the aromatics, about half an inch or so of liquid in a roasting pan, and cover it with foil. Cook it to temp in a med oven.
The cucumbers need to sliced thin and start layering them from the tail for a natural look. I've gotten the best result from "english seedless cucumbers (no wax)". It is important they're seedless or the slices will fall apart. You can also get a nice effect if you put some grooves on the cucumber before slicing. Typically I got 1 salmon per cucumber. Extra points if you coat the salmon in aspic. (Also important, don't forget to skin the salmon before cucumbering)
Wakame or other seaweeds make an awesome base for the salmon. When plating the salmon it has to look good from both sides because more often then not, you'll have to rotate the platter so people can get at the other side.
Allow at least 45 minutes to decorate your first salmon.  |