How to Cook Fish Part 27

Put the crisp leaves of a head of lettuce into a salad bowl. Skin and remove the bone from two smoked herrings, chop fine and mix with the lettuce. Pour over a French dressing to which a chopped hard-boiled egg has been added.

PICKLED HERRING

Soak in milk and water over night. Next day put the herring into a stone jar with alternate layers of sliced onion, a few slices of lemon, a few cloves, bay-leaves, and whole peppers, and enough mustard seed to season. Rub the roe through a sieve, add a tablespoonful of brown sugar and add it to the herring. Pour over enough vinegar to cover the fish and let stand three or four days before using.

HERRING b.a.l.l.s

Parboil three red herrings, skin, and remove the bones. Add an equal quant.i.ty of baked potatoes, skinned and mashed. Make to a paste with cream and melted b.u.t.ter, season to [Page 203]

taste, and shape into b.a.l.l.s. Dip in egg and crumbs and fry in deep fat.

BAKED SMOKED HERRING

Wash thoroughly, wipe dry, wrap in clean wet manilla paper, and put into a quick oven for fifteen minutes. Served with sliced lemon.

BAKED FRESH HERRING

Clean a dozen fresh herrings, removing the head and tail. b.u.t.ter a deep earthen dish, put in a layer of fish, two slices of lemon, and three or four slices of onion. Season with pepper and salt and repeat until the dish is full, cover with vinegar, tie a sheet of b.u.t.tered brown paper over the dish, and bake in a slow oven for six hours. The bones will be dissolved.

MARINADE OF HERRING

Soak white salted herrings for two hours in milk to cover. Split, remove the bones, and cut each half into three pieces. Pack in layers in a deep jar, seasoning between the layers with minced shallot, pounded clove and white pepper. Add here and there a bit of bay-leaf and a slice of fresh lemon with half the rind taken off. Use the roe with the herring. Season the top layer, cover with [Page 204]

vinegar, add three tablespoonfuls of olive-oil, and let stand for two days before using.

ESCALLOPED HERRING

Soak four or five Norway herrings over night. Divide the fish down the back, remove the skin and bones, and cut into eight squares.

Arrange in a baking-pan with alternate layers of cold boiled potatoes, seasoning each layer with b.u.t.ter and red pepper. Have potatoes on top. Pour over three eggs beaten with three cupfuls of milk.

Cover with crumbs, dot with b.u.t.ter, and bake for forty minutes.

GRILLED SMOKED HERRING

Soak over night and in the morning cover with hot water and let stand for half an hour. Put into cold water for ten minutes, then wipe dry and broil. Serve with hot corn bread.

GRILLED FRESH HERRING

Dip in seasoned melted b.u.t.ter, then in crumbs, and broil carefully, basting with melted b.u.t.ter if required. Serve with Maitre d'Hotel Sauce.

[Page 205]

NINE WAYS TO COOK KINGFISH.

BOILED KINGFISH

Clean the fish and boil with enough fish stock to cover. Drain carefully, garnish with parsley, and serve with either Brown or White Sauce.

BOILED KINGFISH a LA HOLLANDAISE

Scale and clean two large kingfish, and boil in salted and acidulated water, with a bunch of parsley, a slice each of carrot and onion, and a pinch of powdered sweet herbs. Cover with b.u.t.tered paper and simmer until done. Garnish with parsley and serve with Hollandaise Sauce.

FRIED KINGFISH--I

Cut the fish into fillets, remove the skin, season with salt and pepper, dredge with flour, dip in beaten egg, then in bread-crumbs, and fry in deep fat. Serve with any preferred sauce.

[Page 206]

FRIED KING FISH--II

Prepare the fish according to directions given in the preceding recipe. Cook until firm in melted b.u.t.ter and lemon-juice. Drain, cool, dip in batter, and fry in deep fat. Serve with any preferred sauce.

FRIED KINGFISH--III

Clean and fillet the fish, dip in milk, roll in flour and fry.

Drain, season, garnish with lemons, and serve with Tomato Sauce.

BROILED KING FISH

Clean thoroughly, wipe dry, and slit down the back; season with salt and pepper and baste with oil before and during the broiling.

Serve with melted b.u.t.ter, minced parsley, and lemon-juice.

BAKED KING FISH

Clean four kingfish, cut off the fins and gash from head to tail on each side. Place on a b.u.t.tered baking-dish, sprinkle with chopped shallots, parsley, and mushrooms. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and put small bits of b.u.t.ter in the incisions. Pour over two wine-gla.s.sfuls of white wine and baste with the liquid while baking.

Thicken a cupful of beef stock with b.u.t.ter and browned flour, and [Page 207]

pour over the fish when nearly done. Sprinkle with crumbs, dot with b.u.t.ter, and brown in the oven. Sprinkle with lemon-juice before serving.

BAKED KING FISH WITH WHITE SAUCE

Prepare the fish according to directions given in the recipe for Baked Kingfish, omitting the mushrooms and the seasoning. Pour over one cupful of white wine, and half a cupful of white stock.

Baste with the liquid while baking. Take up the fish carefully, and add to the liquid remaining in the pan enough white stock to make the required quant.i.ty of sauce. Thicken with a tablespoonful each of b.u.t.ter and flour cooked together, take from the fire, add two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter and a little lemon-juice. Strain over the fish and serve.

KINGFISH a LA MEUNIeRE

Prepare and season eight small kingfish, dredge with flour, brown in b.u.t.ter, and finish cooking in the oven. When done, pour over two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter which has been cooked brown, sprinkle with lemon-juice and minced parsley, and serve in the baking-dish.

[Page 209]

SIXTY-FIVE WAYS TO COOK MACKEREL

BROILED SPANISH MACKEREL--I

Cut a fish down the middle, take out all the bones, and cut again in halves. Dry on a cloth and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Beat two eggs, add an equal quant.i.ty of olive-oil, dip the fish into this, then into bread-crumbs, and broil over a clear fire.

BROILED SPANISH MACKEREL--II

Split the mackerel down the back and broil carefully over a clear fire. Season with b.u.t.ter, pepper, and salt.