CHAPTER II.

=Fish.= [Illustration: TO CHOOSE FISH. ] [Illustration: Copper Fish or Ham Kettle. ] The cook should be well acquainted with the signs of freshness and good condition in fish, as they are most unwholesome articles of food when stale, and many of them are also dangerous eating when they are out of season. The eyes should always be bright, the gills of a fine clear red, the body stiff, the flesh firm, yet elastic to the touch, and the smell not disagreeable. When all these marks are reversed, and the eyes are sunken, the gills very dark in hue, the fish itself flabby and of offensive odour, it is bad, and should be avoided. The chloride of soda, will, it is true, restore it to a tolerably eatable state,[42] if it be not very much over-kept, but it will never resemble in quality and wholesomeness fish which is fresh from the water. Footnote 42: We have known this applied very successfully to salmon which from some hours’ keeping in sultry weather had acquired a slight degree of taint, of which no trace remained after it was dressed; as a general rule, however, fish which is not _wholesomely fresh_ should be rejected for the table. [Illustration: Mackerel Kettle. ] A good turbot is thick, and full fleshed, and the under side is of a pale cream colour or yellowish white; when this is of a bluish tint, and the fish is thin and soft, it should be rejected. The same observations apply equally to soles. The best salmon and cod fish are known by a small head, very thick shoulders, and a small tail; the scales of the former should be bright, and its flesh of a fine red colour; to be eaten in perfection it should be dressed as soon as it is caught, before the curd (or white substance which lies between the flakes of flesh) has melted and rendered the fish oily. In that state it is really crimp, but continues so only for a very few hours; and it bears therefore a much higher price in the London market then, than when mellowed by having been kept a day or two. The flesh of cod fish should be white and clear before it is boiled, whiter still after it is boiled, and firm though tender, sweet and mild in flavour, and separated easily into large flakes. Many persons consider it rather improved than otherwise by having a little salt rubbed along the inside of the back-bone and letting it lie from twenty-four to forty-eight hours before it is dressed,. It is sometimes served crimp like salmon, and must then be sliced as soon as it is dead, or within the shortest possible time afterwards. Herrings, mackerel, and whitings, unless newly caught, are quite uneatable. When they are in good condition their natural colours will be very distinct and their whole appearance glossy and fresh. The herring when first taken from the water is of a silvery brightness; the back of the mackerel is of a bright green marked with dark stripes; but this becomes of a coppery colour as the fish grows stale. The whiting is of a pale brown or fawn colour with a pinkish tint; but appears dim and leaden-hued when no longer fresh. Eels should be alive and brisk in movement when they are purchased, but the “horrid barbarity,” as it is truly designated, of skinning and dividing them while they are so, is without excuse, as they are easily destroyed “by piercing the spinal marrow close to the back part of the skull with a sharp pointed knife or skewer. If this be done in the right place all motion will instantly cease.” We quote Dr. Kitchener’s assertion on this subject; but we know that the mode of destruction which he recommends is commonly practised by the London fishmongers. Boiling water also will immediately cause vitality to cease, and is perhaps the most humane and ready method of destroying the fish. Lobsters, prawns, and shrimps, are very stiff when freshly boiled, and the tails turn strongly inwards; when these relax, and the fish are soft and watery, they are stale; and the smell will detect their being so, instantly, even if no other symptoms of it be remarked. If bought alive, lobsters should be chosen by their weight and “liveliness.” The hen lobster is preferred for sauce and soups, on account of the coral; but the flesh of the male is generally considered of finer flavour for eating. The vivacity of their leaps will show when prawns and shrimps are fresh from the sea. Oysters should close forcibly on the knife when they are opened: if the shells are apart ever so little they are losing their condition, and when they remain far open the fish are dead, and fit only to be thrown away. Small plump natives are very preferable to the larger and coarser kinds. TO CLEAN FISH. Let this be always done with the most scrupulous nicety, for nothing can more effectually destroy the appetite, or disgrace the cook, than fish sent to table imperfectly cleaned. Handle it lightly, and never throw it roughly about, so as to bruise it; wash it well, but do not leave it longer in the water than is necessary; for fish, like meat, loses its flavour from being soaked. When the scales are to be removed, lay the fish flat upon its side and hold it firmly with the left hand, while they are scraped off with the right; turn it, and when both sides are done, pour or pump sufficient water to float off all the loose scales; then proceed to empty it; _and do this without opening it more than is absolutely necessary for the purposes of cleanliness_. Be sure that not the slightest particle of offensive matter be left in the inside; wash out the blood entirely, and scrape or brush it away if needful from the back-bone. This may easily be accomplished without opening the fish so much as to render it unsightly when it is sent to table. When the scales are left on, the outside of the fish should be well washed and wiped with a coarse cloth, drawn gently from the head to the tail. Eels to be wholesome should be skinned, but they are sometimes dressed without; boiling water should then be poured upon them, and they should be left in it from five to ten minutes before they are cut up. The dark skin of the sole must be stripped off when it is fried, but it should be left on it like that of a turbot when the fish is boiled, and it should be dished with the white side upwards. Whitings are skinned before they are egged and crumbed for frying, but for boiling or broiling, the skin is left on them. The gills of all fish (the red mullet sometimes excepted), must be taken out. _The fins of a turbot_, _which are considered a great delicacy, should be left untouched_; but those of most other fish must be cut off. TO KEEP FISH. We find that all the smaller kinds of fish keep best if emptied and cleaned as soon as they are brought in, then wiped gently as dry as they can be, and hung separately by the head on the hooks in the ceiling of a cool larder, or in the open air when the weather will allow. When there is danger of their being attacked by flies, a wire safe, placed in a strong draught of air, is better adapted to the purpose. Soles in winter will remain good for two days when thus prepared; and even whitings and mackerel may be kept so without losing any of their excellence. Salt may be rubbed slightly over cod fish, and well along the back-bone; but it injures the flavour of salmon, the inside of which may be rubbed with vinegar and peppered instead. When excessive sultriness renders all of these modes unavailing, the fish must at once be partially cooked to preserve it, but this should be avoided if possible, as it is very rarely so good when this method is resorted to. TO SWEETEN TAINTED FISH. The application of strong vinegar, or of acetic acid (which may be purchased at the chemists’), will effect this when the taint is but slight. The vinegar should be used pure; and one wineglassful of the acid should be mixed with two of water. Pour either of these over the fish, and rub it on the parts which require it; then leave it untouched for a few minutes, and wash it afterwards well, changing the water two or three times. When the fish is in a worse state the chloride of soda, from its powerful anti-putrescent properties, will have more effect: it may be diluted, and applied in the same manner as the acid. _Obs._—We have retained here the substance of the directions which we had given in former editions of this book for _rendering eatable_ fish (and meat) tainted by being closely packed or overkept; and it is true that they may be deprived of their offensive flavour and odour by the application of strong acids and other disinfecting agents,—Beaufoy’s chloride of soda more especially—but we are very doubtful whether they can by any process be converted into _unquestionably wholesome_ food, unless from some accidental circumstance the mere surface should be affected, or some small portion of them, which could be entirely cut away. We cannot, therefore, conscientiously recommend the _false economy_ of endangering health in preference to rejecting them for the table altogether. THE MODE OF COOKING BEST ADAPTED TO DIFFERENT KINDS OF FISH. It is not possible, the reader will easily believe, to insert in a work of the size of the present volume, all the modes of dressing the many varieties of fish which are suited to our tables; we give, therefore, only the more essential receipts in detail, and add to them such general information as may, we trust, enable even a moderately intelligent cook to serve all that may usually be required, without difficulty. There is no better way of dressing a good turbot, brill, John Dory, or cod’s head and shoulders, than plain but careful boiling. Salmon is excellent in almost every mode in which it can be cooked or used. Boiled entire or in crimped slices; roasted in a cradle-spit or Dutch oven; baked; fried in small collops; collared; potted; dried and smoked; pickled or soused (this is the coarsest and least to be recommended process for it, of any); made into a raised or common pie, or a potato-pasty; served cold in or with savoury jelly, or with a _Mayonnaise_ sauce; or laid on potatoes and baked, as in Ireland, it will be found Good. Soles may be either boiled, or baked, or fried entire, or in fillets; curried; stewed in cream; or prepared by any of the directions given for them in the body of this chapter. Plaice, unless when in full season and very fresh, is apt to be watery and insipid; but taken in its perfection and carefully cooked, it is very sweet and delicate in flavour. If large, it may be boiled with advantage either whole or in fillets; but to many tastes it is very superior when filleted, dipped into egg and bread-crumbs, and fried. The flesh may also be curried; or the plaice may be converted into water-souchy, or _soupe-maigre_: when small it is often fried whole. Red mullet should always be _baked_, _broiled_, or _roasted_: it should on no occasion be boiled. Mackerel, for which many receipts will be found in this chapter, when broiled _quite whole_, as we have directed, or freed from the bones, divided, egged, crumbed, and fried, is infinitely superior to the same fish cooked in the ordinary manner. The whiting, when _very_ fresh and in season, is always delicate and good; and of all fish is considered the best suited to invalids. Perhaps _quite_ the most wholesome mode of preparing it for them, is to open it as little as possible when it is cleansed, to leave the skin on, to dry the fish well, and to broil it gently. It should be sent very hot to table, and will require no sauce: twenty minutes will usually be required to cook it, if of moderate size. The haddock is sometimes very large. We have had it occasionally from our southern coast between two and three feet in length, and it was then remarkably good when simply boiled, even the day after it was caught, the white curd between the flakes of flesh being like that of extremely fresh salmon. As it is in full season in mid-winter, it can be sent to a distance without injury. It is a _very_ firm fish when large and in season; but, as purchased commonly at inland markets, is often neither fine in size nor quality. _One_ of the best modes of cooking it is, to take the flesh entire from the bones, to divide it, dip it into egg and bread-crumbs, mixed with savoury herbs finely minced, and a seasoning of salt and spice, and to fry it like soles. Other receipts for it will be found in the body of this chapter. The flesh of the gurnard is exceedingly dry, and somewhat _over firm_, but when filled with well-made forcemeat and gently baked, it is much liked by many persons. At good tables, it is often served in fillets fried or baked, and richly sauced: in common cookery it is sometimes boiled. Portions only of the skate, which is frequently of _enormous_ size, are used as food: these are in general cut out by the fisherman or by the salesman, and are called the wings. The flesh is commonly served here divided into long narrow fillets, called crimped skate, which are rolled up and fastened, to preserve them in that form, while they are cooked. In France, it is sent to table raised from the bones in large portions, sauced with _beurre-noir_ (burned or browned butter), and strewed with well-crisped parsley. Trout, which is a delicious fish when stewed in gravy, either quite simply, or with the addition of wine and various condiments, and which when of small size is very sweet and pleasant, eating nicely fried, is poor and insipid when plainly boiled.[43] Footnote 43: We have been informed by Mr. Howitt, the well-known author of several highly interesting works on Germany, that this fish, when boiled the instant it was caught—as he had eaten it often on the banks of some celebrated German trout-streams—was most excellent, especially when it was of large size; but, as a general rule, almost any other mode of cooking is to be recommended for it in preference. Pike, of which the flesh is extremely dry, is we think better baked than dressed in any other way; but it is often boiled. Carp should either be stewed whole in the same manner as trout, or served cut in slices, in a rich sauce called a _matelote_. Smelts, sand-eels, and white-bait, are always fried; the last two sometimes after being dipped into batter. THE BEST MODE OF BOILING FISH. We have left unaltered in the following receipts the greater number of our original directions for boiling fish, which were found when carefully followed, to produce a good result; but Baron Liebeg and other scientific writers explain clearly the principles on which the nutriment contained in fish or flesh is best retained by bringing the surface of either when it is cooked, into immediate contact with _boiling_ water; and then (after a few minutes of ebullition) lowering the temperature by the addition of cold water, and keeping it somewhat below the boiling point for the remainder of the process. This method is at least worthy of a trial, even if it be attended with a slight degree more of trouble than those in general use; but when fish is served with a variety of other dishes, the escape of some portion of its nutritious juices is of less importance than when it forms the principal food of any part of the community: in that case, the preservation of all the nourishment which can be derived from it, is of real consequence. _Directions._—Throw into as much water as will cover the fish entirely, a portion of the salt which is to be added in cooking it, and when it boils quickly take off the scum, lay in the fish, and let it boil moderately fast from three to ten minutes, according to its weight and thickness; then pour in as much cold water as there is of the boiling, take out a part, leaving sufficient only to keep the fish well covered until it is ready to serve; add the remainder of the salt, draw the fish-kettle to the side of the fire, and keep the water _just simmering_, and no more, until the fish is done. The cook will understand that if a gallon of water be required to cover the fish while it is cooking, that quantity must be made to boil; and that a gallon of cold must be added to it after the fish has been laid in, and _kept boiling_ for a very few minutes. For example:—A large turbot or cod’s head for ten minutes; a moderate-sized plaice or John Dory, about five; and whitings, codlings, and other small fish, from three to four minutes. That one gallon must then be taken out of the kettle, which should immediately be drawn from the fire, and placed at the side of the stove, that the fish may be gradually heated through as the water is brought slowly to the point of simmering. The whole of the salt may be added after a portion of the water is withdrawn, when the cook cannot entirely depend on her own judgment for the precise quantity required. _Obs._—This is the best _practical_ application that we can give of Baron Liebeg’s instructions. BRINE FOR BOILING FISH. Fish is exceedingly insipid if sufficient salt be not mixed with the water in which it is boiled, but the precise quantity required for it will depend, in some measure, upon the kind of salt which is used. Fine common salt is that for which our directions are given; but when the Maldon salt, which is very superior in strength, as well as in other qualities, is substituted for it, a smaller quantity must be allowed. About four ounces to the gallon of water will be sufficient for small fish in general; an additional ounce, or rather more, will not be too much for cod fish, lobsters, crabs, prawns, and shrimps; and salmon will require eight ounces, as the brine for this fish should be strong: the water should always be perfectly well skimmed from the moment the scum begins to form upon the surface. Mackerel, whiting, and other small fish, 4 ounces of salt to a gallon of water. Cod fish, lobsters, crabs, prawns, shrimps, 5 to 6 oz. Salmon, 8 ozs. TO RENDER BOILED FISH FIRM. Put a small bit of saltpetre with the salt into the water in which it is boiled: a quarter of an ounce will be sufficient for a gallon. TO KNOW WHEN FISH IS SUFFICIENTLY BOILED, OR OTHERWISE COOKED. If the _thickest_ part of the flesh separates easily from the back-bone, it is quite ready to serve, and should be withdrawn from the pan without delay, as further cooking would be injurious to it. This test can easily be applied to a fish which has been divided, but when it is entire it should be lifted from the water when the flesh of the tail breaks from the bone, and the eyes loosen from the head. TO BAKE FISH. A gentle oven may be used with advantage, for cooking almost every kind of fish, as we have ascertained from our own observation; but it must be subjected to a mild degree of heat only. This penetrates the flesh gradually, and converts it into wholesome succulent food; whereas, a _hot oven_ evaporates all the juices rapidly, and renders the fish hard and dry. When small, they should be wrapped in oiled or buttered paper before they are baked; and when filleted, or left in any other form, and placed in a deep dish with or without any liquid before they are put into the oven, a buttered paper should still be laid closely upon them to keep the surface moist. Large pieces of salmon, conger eel, and other fish of considerable size are sometimes in common cookery baked like meat over potatoes pared and halved. FAT FOR FRYING FISH. This, whether it be butter, lard, or oil should always be excellent in quality, for the finest fish will be rendered unfit for eating if it be fried in fat that is rancid. When good, and used in sufficient quantity, it will serve for the same purpose several times, if strained after each frying, and put carefully away in a clean pan, provided always that it has not been smoked nor burned in the using. Lard renders fish more crisp than butter does; but fresh, pure olive-oil (_salad oil_, as it is commonly called in England) is the _best_ ingredient which can be used for it, and as it will serve well for the same purpose, many times in succession, if strained and carefully stored as we have already stated, it is not in reality so expensive as might be supposed for this mode of cooking. There should always be an ample quantity of it (or of any other _friture_[44]) in the pan, as the fish should be nearly covered with it, at the least; and it should cease to bubble before either fish or meat is laid into it, or it will be too much absorbed by the flesh, and will impart neither sufficient firmness, nor sufficient colour. Footnote 44: The French term for fat of all kinds used in frying. TO KEEP FISH HOT FOR TABLE. Never leave it in the water after it is done, but if it cannot be sent to table as soon as it is ready to serve, lift it out, lay the fish-plate into a large and a very hot dish, and set it across the fish-kettle; just dip a clean cloth into the boiling water, and spread it upon the fish, place a tin cover over it, and let it remain so until two or three minutes before it is wanted, then remove the cloth, and put the fish back into the kettle for an instant that it may be as hot as possible: drain, dish, and serve it immediately: the water should be kept boiling the whole time. TO BOIL A TURBOT. [In season all the year.] [Illustration: Turbot. ] A fine turbot, in full season, and well served, is one of the most delicate and delicious fish that can be sent to table; but it is generally an expensive dish, and its excellence so much depends on the manner in which it is dressed, that great care should be taken to prepare it properly. After it is emptied, wash the inside until it is perfectly cleansed, and rub _lightly_ a little fine salt over the outside, as this will render less washing and handling necessary, by at once taking off the slime; change the water several times, and when the fish is as clean as it is possible to render it, draw a sharp knife through the thickest part of the middle of the back nearly through to the bone.[45] _Never cut off the fins_ of a turbot when preparing it for table, and remember that it is the dark side of the fish in which the incision is to be made, to prevent the skin of the white side from cracking. Dissolve in a well-cleaned turbot or common fish-kettle, in as much cold spring water as will cover the fish abundantly, salt, in the proportion of four ounces to the gallon; wipe the fish-plate with a clean cloth, lay the turbot upon it with the white side upwards, place it in the kettle, bring it slowly to boil, and clear off the scum _thoroughly_ as it rises. Let the water only just simmer until the fish is done, then lift it out, drain, and slide it gently on to a very hot dish, with a hot napkin neatly arranged over the drainer. Send it immediately to table with rich lobster sauce and good plain melted butter. For a simple dinner, anchovy or shrimp sauce is sometimes served with a small turbot. Should there be any cracks in the skin of the fish, branches of curled parsley may be laid lightly over them, or part of the inside coral of a lobster, rubbed through a fine hair-sieve, may be sprinkled over the fish; but it’s better without either, when it is very white and unbroken. When garnishings are in favour, a slice of lemon and a tuft of curled parsley, may be placed alternately round the edge of the dish. A border of fried smelts or of fillets of soles, was formerly served round a turbot, and is always a very admissible addition, though no longer so fashionable as it was. From fifteen to twenty minutes will boil a moderate-sized fish, and from twenty to thirty a large one; but as the same time will not always be sufficient for a fish of the same weight, the cook must watch it attentively, and lift it out as soon as its appearance denotes its being done. Footnote 45: This is the common practice even of the _best_ cooks, but is very unscientific nevertheless. When the incision is made really into the flesh the turbot should be cooked altogether on Liebeg’s plan, for which see “The Best Mode of Boiling Fish,” in the preceding pages. Moderate sized turbot, 15 to 20 minutes. Large, 20 to 30 minutes. Longer, if of unusual size. _Obs._—A lemon gently squeezed, and rubbed over the fish, is thought to preserve its whiteness. Some good cooks still put turbot into _boiling_ water, and to prevent its breaking, tie it with a cloth tightly to the fish-plate. TURBOT À LA CRÊME. Raise carefully from the bones the flesh of a cold turbot, and clear it from the dark skin; cut it into small squares, and put it into an exceedingly clean stewpan or saucepan; then make and pour upon it the cream sauce of Chapter V., or make as much as may be required for the fish by the same receipt, with equal proportions of milk and cream and a little additional flour. Heat the turbot slowly in the sauce, but do not allow it to boil, and send it very hot to table. The white skin of the fish is not usually added to this dish, and it is of better appearance without it; but for a family dinner, it may be left on the flesh, when it is much liked. No acid must be stirred to the sauce until the whole is ready for table. TURBOT AU BÉCHAMEL, OR, IN BÉCHAMEL SAUCE. Prepare the cold turbot as for the preceding receipt, but leave no portion of the skin with it. Heat it in a rich _bechamel_ sauce, and serve it in a _vol-au-vent_, or in a deep dish with a border of fried bread cut in an elegant form, and made with one dark and one light sippet, placed alternately. The surface may be covered with a half-inch layer of delicately fried bread-crumbs, perfectly well drained and dried; or they may be spread over the fish without being fried, then moistened with clarified butter, and browned with a salamander. FOR MOULD OF COLD TURBOT WITH SHRIMP CHATNEY, see Chapter VI. TO BOIL A JOHN DORY. [In best season from Michaelmas to Christmas, but good all the year.] [Illustration: John Dory. ] The John Dory, though of uninviting appearance, is considered by some persons as the most delicious fish that appears at table; in the general estimation, however, it ranks next to the turbot, but it is far less abundant in our markets, and is not commonly to be procured of sufficient size for a handsome dish, except in some few parts of our coast which are celebrated for it. It may easily be known by its yellow gray colour, its one large dark spot on either side, the long filaments on the back, a general thickness of form, and its very ugly head. It is dressed in the same manner, and served usually with the same sauces as a turbot, but requires less time to boil it. The fins should be cut off before it is cooked. SMALL JOHN DORIES BAKED. (_Author’s Receipt—good._) We have found these fish when they were too small to be worth cooking in the usual way, excellent when quite simply baked in the following manner, the flesh being remarkably sweet and tender, much more so than it becomes by frying or broiling. After they have been cleaned, dry them in a cloth, season the insides slightly with fine salt, dredge a little flour on the fish, and stick a few very small bits of butter on them, but only just sufficient to prevent their becoming dry in the oven; lay them singly on a flat dish, and bake them very gently from fourteen to sixteen minutes. Serve them with the same sauce as baked soles. When extremely fresh, as it usually is in the markets of the coast, fish thus simply dressed _au four_ is preferable to that more elaborately prepared by adding various condiments to it after it is placed in a deep dish, and covering it with a thick layer of bread-crumbs, moistened with clarified butter. The appearance of the John Dories is improved by taking off the heads, and cutting away not only the fins but the filaments of the back. TO BOIL A BRILL. A fresh and full-sized brill always ranks high in the list of fish, as it is of good appearance, and the flesh is sweet and delicate. It requires less cooking than the turbot, even when it is of equal size; but otherwise may be dressed and served in a similar manner. It has not the same rich glutinous skin as that fish, nor are the fins esteemed. They must be cut off when the brill is cleaned; and it may be put into nearly boiling water, unless it be very large. Simmer it gently, and drain it well upon the fish-plate when it is lifted out; dish it on a napkin, and send lobster, anchovy, crab, or shrimp sauce to table with it. Lobster coral, rubbed through a sieve, is commonly sprinkled over it for a formal dinner. The most usual garnish for boiled flat fish is curled parsley placed round it in light tufts; how far it is _appropriate_, individual taste must decide. Brill, moderate-sized, about 20 minutes; large, 30 minutes. _Obs._—The _precise_ time which a fish will require to be boiled cannot be given: it must be watched, and not allowed to remain in the water after it begins to crack. TO BOIL SALMON. [In full season from May to August: may be had much earlier, but is scarce and dear.] To preserve the fine colour of this fish, and to _set the curd_ when it is quite freshly caught, it is usual to put it into _boiling_, instead of into cold water. Scale, empty, and wash it with the greatest nicety, and be especially careful to cleanse all the blood from the inside. Stir into the fish-kettle eight ounces of common salt to the gallon of water, let it boil quickly for a minute or two, take off all the scum, put in the salmon and boil it moderately fast, if it be small, but more gently should it be very thick; and assure yourself that it is quite sufficiently done before it is sent to table, for nothing can be more distasteful, even to the eye, than fish which is under dressed. From two to three pounds of the thick part of a fine salmon will require half an hour to boil it, but eight or ten pounds will be done enough in little more than double that time; less in proportion to its weight should be allowed for a small fish, or for the thin end of a large one. Do not allow the salmon to remain in the water after it is ready to serve, or both its flavour and appearance will be injured. Dish it on a hot napkin, and send dressed cucumber, and anchovy, shrimp, or lobster sauce, and a tureen of plain melted butter to table with it. To each gallon water, 8 oz. salt. Salmon, 2 to 3 lbs. (thick), 1/2 hour; 8 to 10 lbs., 1-1/4 hour; small, or thin fish, less time. SALMON À LA GENEVESE. A fashionable mode of serving salmon at the present day is to divide the larger portion of the body into three equal parts; to boil them in water, or in a marinade; and to serve them dished in a line, but not close together, and covered with a rich Genevese sauce (for which see