The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887) Part 9

TO BROIL A SHAD.

Split and wash the shad and afterwards dry it in a cloth. Season it with salt and pepper. Have ready a bed of clear, bright coals. Grease your gridiron well, and as soon as it is hot, lay the shad upon it, the flesh side down; cover with a dripping-pan and broil it for about a quarter of an hour, or more, according to the thickness. b.u.t.ter it well and send it to the table. Covering it while broiling gives it a more delicious flavor.

BAKED SHAD.

Many people are of the opinion that the very best method of cooking a shad is to bake it. Stuff it with bread crumbs, salt, pepper, b.u.t.ter and parsley, and mix this up with the beaten yolk of egg; fill the fish with it, and sew it up or fasten a string around it. Pour over it a little water and some b.u.t.ter, and bake as you would a fowl. A shad will require from an hour to an hour and a quarter to bake. Garnish with slices of lemon, water cress, etc.

_Dressing for Baked Shad._--Boil up the gravy in which the shad was baked, put in a large tablespoonful of catsup, a tablespoonful of brown flour which has been wet with cold water, the juice of a lemon, and a gla.s.s of sherry or Madeira wine. Serve in a sauce boat.

TO COOK A SHAD ROE.

Drop into boiling water and cook gently for twenty minutes; then take from the fire and drain. b.u.t.ter a tin plate and lay the drained roe upon it. Dredge well with salt and pepper and spread soft b.u.t.ter over it; then dredge thickly with flour. Cook in the oven for half an hour, basting frequently with salt, pepper, flour, b.u.t.ter and water.

TO COOK SHAD ROE. (Another Way.)

First partly boil them in a small covered pan, take out and season them with salt, a little pepper, dredge with flour and fry as any fish.

BOILED Ba.s.s.

After thoroughly cleaning it place in a saucepan with enough water to cover it; add two tablespoonfuls of salt; set the saucepan over the fire, and when it has boiled about five minutes try to pull out one of the fins; if it loosens easily from the body carefully take the fish out of the water, lay it on a platter, surround it with half a dozen hard-boiled eggs, and serve it with a sauce.

BOILED BLUEFISH.

Boiled the same as Ba.s.s.

BAKED BLUEFISH.

Baked the same as BAKED SHAD--see page 55.

FRIED EELS.

After cleaning the eels well, cut them in pieces two inches long; wash them and wipe them dry; roll them in wheat flour or rolled cracker, and fry, as directed for other fish, in hot lard or beef dripping, salted. They should be browned all over and thoroughly done.

Eels are sometimes dipped in batter and then fried, or into egg and bread crumbs. Serve with crisped parsley.

SHEEPSHEAD WITH DRAWN b.u.t.tER.

Select a medium-sized fish, clean it thoroughly, and rub a little salt over it; wrap it in a cloth and put it in a steamer; place this over a pot of fast-boiling water and steam one hour; then lay it whole upon a hot side-dish, garnish with tufts of parsley and slices of lemon, and serve with drawn b.u.t.ter, prepared as follows: Take two ounces of b.u.t.ter and roll it into small b.a.l.l.s, dredge these with flour; put one-fourth of them in a saucepan, and as they begin to melt, whisk them; add the remainder, one at a time, until thoroughly smooth; while stirring, add a tablespoonful of lemon juice, half a tablespoonful of chopped parsley; pour into a hot sauce boat and serve.

BAKED WHITE FISH.

Thoroughly clean the fish; cut off the head or not, as preferred; cut out the backbone from the head to within two inches of the tail, and stuff with the following: Soak stale bread in water, squeeze dry; cut in pieces a large onion, fry in b.u.t.ter, chop fine; add the bread, two ounces of b.u.t.ter, salt, pepper and a little parsley or sage; heat through, and when taken off the fire, add the yolks of two well-beaten eggs; stuff the fish rather full, sew up with fine twine, and wrap with several coils of white tape. Rub the fish over slightly with b.u.t.ter; just cover the bottom of a baking pan with hot water, and place the fish in it, standing back upward, and bent in the form of an S. Serve with the following dressing: Reduce the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs to a smooth paste with two tablespoonfuls good salad oil; stir in half a teaspoon English mustard, and add pepper and vinegar to taste.

HALIBUT BOILED.

The cut next to the tail-piece is the best to boil. Rub a little salt over it, soak it for fifteen minutes in vinegar and cold water, then wash it and sc.r.a.pe it until quite clean; tie it in a cloth and boil slowly over a moderate fire, allowing seven minutes' boiling to each pound of fish; when it is half-cooked, turn it over in the pot; serve with drawn b.u.t.ter or egg sauce.

Boiled halibut minced with boiled potatoes and a little b.u.t.ter and milk makes an excellent breakfast dish.

STEAMED HALIBUT.

Select a three-pound piece of white halibut, cover it with a cloth and place it in a steamer; set the steamer over a pot of fast-boiling water and steam two hours; place it on a hot dish surrounded with a border of parsley and serve with egg sauce.

FRIED HALIBUT. No. 1.

Select choice, firm slices from this large and delicate looking fish, and, after carefully was.h.i.+ng and drying with a soft towel, with a sharp knife take off the skin. Beat up two eggs and roll out some brittle crackers upon the kneading board until they are as fine as dust. Dip each slice into the beaten egg, then into the cracker crumbs (after you have salted and peppered the fish), and place them in a hot frying pan half full of boiling lard, in which a little b.u.t.ter has been added to make the fish brown nicely; turn and brown both sides, remove from frying pan and drain. Serve hot.

FRIED HALIBUT. No. 2.

First fry a few thin slices of salt pork until brown in an iron frying pan; then take it up on a hot platter and keep it warm until the halibut is fried. After was.h.i.+ng and drying two pounds of sliced halibut, sprinkle it with salt and pepper, dredge it well with flour, put it into the hot pork drippings and fry brown on both sides; then serve the pork with the fish.

Halibut broiled in slices is a very good way of cooking it, broiled the same as Spanish mackerel.

BAKED HALIBUT.

Take a nice piece of halibut weighing five or six pounds and lay it in salt water for two hours. Wipe it dry and score the outer skin. Set it in a dripping pan in a moderately hot oven and bake an hour, basting often with b.u.t.ter and water heated together in a sauce pan or tin cup.

When a fork will penetrate it easily, it is done. It should be a fine, brown color. Take the gravy in the dripping pan, add a little boiling water, should there not be enough, stir in a tablespoonful of walnut catsup, a teaspoonful of Worcesters.h.i.+re sauce, the juice of a lemon, and thicken with brown flour, previously wet with cold water. Boil up once and put in a sauce boat.

HALIBUT BROILED.

Broil the same as other fish, upon a b.u.t.tered gridiron, over a clear fire, first seasoning with salt and pepper, placed on a hot dish when done, b.u.t.tered well and covered closely.

FRIED BROOK TROUT.

These delicate fish are usually fried, and form a delightful breakfast or supper dish. Clean, wash and dry the fish, split them to the tail, salt and pepper them, and flour them nicely. If you use lard instead of the fat of fried salt pork, put in a piece of b.u.t.ter to prevent their sticking, and which causes them to brown nicely. Let the fat be hot; fry quickly to a delicate brown. They should be sufficiently browned on one side before turning on the other. They are nice served with slices of fried pork, fried crisp. Lay them side by side on a heated platter, garnish and send hot to the table. They are often cooked and served with their heads on.

FRIED SMELTS.

Fried with their heads on the same as brook trout. Many think that they make a much better appearance as a dish when cooked whole with the heads on, and nicely garnished for the table.