Today's recipe starts with some of the great fresh salmon in the market right now. But instead of simply serving fresh salmon fillets, grill them as much as a day ahead to go into these tasty cakes.

        Serve the salmon cakes in the traditional manner, napped with their creamy piquant sauce with sides of mashed potatoes and a cooked fresh vegetable or two, or place a plump warm salmon cake atop a bed of crisp salad greens and drizzle over some of the remoulade sauce.

        Or, instead of a traditional beef burger, make a “salmon burger” or two-bite cake.

        The first step toward a tasty salmon cake is to have firm, succulent and flavorful salmon fillets. Rubbing a mixture of salt and sugar on the raw salmon and allowing it to sit in the refrigerator for a quick cure gives the cooked salmon a firmer texture and enhances the flavor. Allow only one hour for the quick curing process and be sure to place the fillets in a dish while they are chilling to catch the liquid that comes out of the salmon.

        Rinse thoroughly with cool water and pat dry with paper towels.Brush oil on the salmon's surface efore placing it on a hot grill. Turn the fish only once, about two-thirds through the cooking time. Remember the rule for grilling all fish is 10 minutes per inch of thickness.

        A necessary step for a successful fish cake is the same as for meat loaf and other similar mixtures: first saute the crisp vegetables, such as onion, bell pepper and celery.

        The remoulade sauce is assembled quickly, using commercial mayonnaise as the base. The chipotle chile pepper has become a favorite spicy flavor. When the popular jalapeno chile is dried and smoked, it becomes a “chipotle.” You will find them packed in cans in tomato sauce called “adobo” sauce.
       Contact Marilyn Harris by mail: c/o Cincinnati Enquirer; fax: 768-8330; e-mail: marilyn@55krc.com.
       Salmon Cakes with Chipotle— Remoulade Sauce
       
       Salmon Cakes
       1 pound fresh salmon filets
       2 tablespoons coarse sea salt
       2 tablespoons brown sugar
       Olive oil
       Salt and pepper
       1 cup finely chopped red onion
       1 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
        1/2 cup finely chopped celery
        1/4 cup finely chopped roasted mild green chiles
        2/3 cup mayonnaise
       1 cup fresh bread crumbs
       1 egg, beaten
       1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
        1/2 teaspoon Tabasco
       2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
        1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
       2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
       1 teaspoon salt
       Vegetable or olive oil, for frying

        Skin and bone the salmon. Mix salt and sugar and rub on both sides of the fish. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and place in a shallow dish. Chill 1 hour (not longer). Remove and rinse. Pat dry with paper towels. Brush salmon with oil. Season with salt and pepper. Grill or broil, turning once, until cooked through. Cool.

        Put 2 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet and saute the onion, pepper and celery 2 minutes, stirring. Remove and cool. Stir together the onion mixture, chiles, mayonnaise, crumbs, beaten egg and the seasonings. Flake the salmon into large flakes and gently fold into the mixture. Form into 8 patties.

        Heat just enough oil to cover bottom of a non-stick pan and cook salmon cakes until golden-brown and crisp. Turn and cook on second side. Drain on paper towels. Serve hot with Chipotle Remoulade spooned on top.

       Chipotle Remoulade Sauce

       2 canned chipotle chiles, minced
       1 teaspoon adobo sauce (from the canned chilies)
       1 cup mayonnaise
       1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
        1/4 cup sour cream
       2 tablespoon chopped cilantro
       Salt, to taste

        Gently whisk ingredients together until smooth.
       Required Reading

        One of my favorite cookbooks has been reissued in paperback, along with two more by the same authors. Cucina Fresca (William Morrow; $17) by Viana La Place and Evan Kleiman is a book of simple, perfect Italian food. It's a wonderful summer cookbook, relying on fresh produce, clean flavors and food that's designed to be served at room temperature. Its companion volumes — Pasta Fresca ($17) and Cucina Rustica ($18) — also are full of vividly flavored Italian food.

       Tasty Travel

        Are you lucky enough to be going to France this summer? Here is advice on dining out in French restaurants, from Patricia Wells' classic guidebook The Food Lover's Guide to Paris (Workman; $16.95), now in its fourth edition:

        • The French prefer their meat and some poultry (particularly duck) cooked quite rare, or rose. But if rare meat or poultry bothers you, be insistent, and ask for it bien cuit (well done). Be prepared for the waiter to wince.

        • Most French people do not drink hard liquor before meals and few restaurants are equipped with a full bar.

        • Coffee always is taken at the very end of the meal, almost served as a course of its own. In restaurants, the coffee served after meals is always black, never with added milk.

        • You never are required to pay more than the final “net” total on the bill. Service, which ranges from 12 to 15 percent, depending on the class of the restaurant, must be included in the price of individual dishes, and is part of the final bill. Etiquette does not require you to pay more than the total.

       Campbell's Scoop

        Where to celebrate Bastille Day: At Chez Alphonse in Fort Thomas, you can experience French food two ways: In the formal Paris Room Tuesday-Saturday, where the dining is haute, or in the Bistro Room Tuesday-Friday, where it's more casual and the food is classically bistro. (859) 442-5488
       Menu Decoder

        At Pane e Vino in Hyde Park, there's a great appetizer on the menu called arrotolata made with buffalo mozzarella. This is not to be confused with Buffalo wings, which are not the same as buffalo steaks.

        Italians make some mozzarella from the milk of water buffalo (bufala in Italian). These were traditional beasts of burden in Italy, but destroyed after World War II by the retreating German army and replaced with animals from India in the '50s. Chef John Leonard of Pane e Vino imports curd of buffalo milk from Italy to make his own mozzarella.

        Buffalo steaks are from the American bison, an entirely different animal. Bison are being re-established in the West and raised for their meat, which tastes a lot like beef, but is lower in fat.

        Buffalo wings, of course, are deep-fried chicken wings in spicy sauce, a dish invented in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1964.
       Learn To Cook

        These cooking schools offer classes different times of the year. Call for schedules and prices.

        • Cooks' Wares, Shops at Harper's Point, Symmes Township. 489-6400.

        • Cooking School at Jungle Jim's Market, Fairfield. 829-1919, Ext. 3.

        • Culinary Sol, Rookwood Commons, Norwood. 841-2665.

        • Dorothy Lane Market School of Cooking, Dayton. (937) 434-1294.

        • Kremer's Market Cooking Classes, Crescent Springs. 341-1067.

        • Restaurant Equipment Outlet's Cooking Classes, Northside. 542-5900.

        • Wild Oats, Rookwood Commons, Norwood. 531-8015.

        • Williams-Sonoma Grand Cuisine, Kenwood Towne Centre, 793-3445.

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