Hand-Book of Practical Cookery for Ladies and Professional Cooks Part 22

FISH.

The Indians bleed the fish as soon as caught, because the flesh is firmer when cooked.

The Dutch and the French bleed the cod, which accounts for the better quality and whiteness of their cod-fish.

_To select._--To be good, fish must be fresh. It is fresh when the eyes are clear, the fins stiff, the gills red, hard to open, and without bad odor.

_To clean and prepare for boiling._--The sooner fish is cleaned the better. Cut the belly open, take the inside out, wash well and wipe dry immediately with a clean towel, inside and out. Place the eggs or soft roes inside, and tie with twine. It is then ready to be boiled.

If not cooked as soon as cleaned and prepared, keep it on ice.

_To clean and prepare for baking, frying, roasting, and to cut in pieces, etc._--Scale the fish well, holding it by the head or tail; cut the belly open and take the inside out; trim off the fins, gills, and tail; wash well inside and out, and wipe dry immediately.

Keep it on ice if not used immediately.

_Same Family, or Kind._--We give only one receipt for all the fishes of the same family, or having the same kind of flesh, as they are cooked alike, and require the same spices.

Almost every kind of fish is boiled, broiled, fried, or stewed. Some are better boiled than broiled, others better fried than stewed, etc. With few exceptions, any eatable fish may be cooked in these four ways. Few are roasted.

_To know when cooked enough._--It is very difficult, if not entirely impossible, to tell how long it takes to cook fish, as it depends as much on the size, kind, or quality of the fish as on the fire; but as soon as the flesh comes off the bones easily, the fish is cooked; this is very easy to be ascertained with a knife.

_To improve._--Clean the fish as for baking, etc., and lay it in a crockery vessel with the following seasonings under and upon it: parsley and onions chopped fine, salt, pepper, thyme, bay-leaves, and vinegar or oil; turn it over occasionally, and leave thus for two or three hours.

_To bone._--Slit the fish on one side of the backbone and fins, from head to tail; then run the knife between the bones and the flesh so as to detach the whole side from the rest; do the same for the other side.

For a flounder, or any other flat fish, slit right in the middle of both sides of the fish so as to make four instead of two pieces.

The head, bones, and fins are not used at all, and are left in one piece.

_To serve, when boiled._--The fish is placed on a napkin and on a dish or platter, surrounded with parsley, and the sauce served in a saucer.

_To skin._--Take hold of the piece of fish by the smaller end, and with the thumb and forefinger of the left hand; run the knife between the flesh and skin, moving the knife to and fro as if you were sawing.

Throw away the skin, and the fish is ready for cooking.

If the skin were breaking, as it happens sometimes, take hold of it again, and proceed as before.

_To decorate._--Fish may be decorated with jelly, but it is easier and more sightly with craw-fish. The skewers are stuck in the fish as they are in a _fillet of beef_.

The craw-fish when boiled are red like the lobster, and, besides using them with skewers, some may be placed all around the fish; it is delicate eating as well as sightly. Skewers are never used with fish in _vinaigrette_, or when the fish is cut in pieces. The craw-fish has only to be boiled before using it for decorating fish.

_Shrimps_ and _prawns_ are used the same as craw-fish.

_Oysters_ are also used, raw or blanched; run the skewer through a large oyster or craw-fish, then through a slice of truffle; again through an oyster, truffle, etc.; through two, three, or more of each, according to the size of the skewer or of the fish.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

_Fish-kettle._--A fish-kettle must have a double bottom. It is more handy to take the fish off without breaking it, and there is no danger of having it spoiled while cooking. Fish-kettles are found in every house-furnis.h.i.+ng store.

_Baked._--Clean and prepare the fish, as directed for baking; put it in a baking-pan with salt, pepper, and b.u.t.ter spread all over it; just cover the bottom of the pan with water or broth; place a piece of b.u.t.tered paper over it and bake. Baste two or three times; take off when done, and serve warm with a sauce.

While the fish is baking you prepare the sauce, put it in a boat, and serve warm with the fish.

A baked fish may be served with its gravy only, adding a few drops of lemon-juice or vinegar, or with any kind of sauce, according to taste.

_b.a.l.l.s._--Fish-b.a.l.l.s are often called _fish-cakes_ or _fish-croquettes_.

They are generally made with cold fish, but it may be cooked especially to make b.a.l.l.s.

Fish, full of bones, like shad, is not fit to make b.a.l.l.s; cod is the easiest.

Commence by chopping the flesh very fine, then chop fine also a small piece of onion and fry it with b.u.t.ter (half a middling-sized onion with two ounces of b.u.t.ter are enough for half a pound of fish); when fried stir in it a tablespoonful of flour, and about half a minute after turn the fish in with about a gill of broth or water, salt, pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg; stir till it turns rather thick, which will take two or three minutes; take from the fire, mix two yolks of eggs with it; put back on the fire for about one minute, stirring the while; then add two or three mushrooms or one truffle, or both, chopped fine. Turn the mixture into a dish, spread it, and put it away to cool for two or three hours, or over night.

Before cooking, mix the whole well, the upper part being more dry than that which is under; put it in parts on the paste-board, roll each part to the shape you wish, either round, oval, or flat; the paste-board must be dusted with bread-crumbs or flour to help in handling the mixture, then boil or fry, according to taste.

It may also be baked in cakes.

When fried, they may be dipped in beaten egg, rolled in bread-crumbs, and then fried in hot fat. (_See_ Frying.)

_Boiled._--Clean and prepare the fish as directed, and put it in a fish-kettle; cover it with cold water (sea-water is the best); add the following seasonings to a pound of fish: two stalks of parsley, one of tarragon if handy, one tablespoonful of vinegar, and half a middling-sized onion sliced; salt if boiled in fresh water. Set on the fire, and, for a fish weighing two pounds or under, take off at the first boiling--it is done enough. For a fish weighing five pounds, boil five minutes, etc., that is, about one minute for each pound. If it were a thick slice of fish instead of a whole one, weighing two or three pounds, it should be boiled two or three minutes longer, etc., according to thickness.

_Broiled._--Slit the fish on the back and clean it; salt and pepper it; have a little melted b.u.t.ter and spread it all over the fish, on both sides, with a brush, and broil it. (_See_ Broiling.)

While the fish is broiling, prepare a _maitre d'hotel_ sauce, spread it on the fish as soon as dished, and serve.

It may also be served with anchovy b.u.t.ter.

_Fried._--Any small fish of the size of a smelt, or smaller, is better fried than prepared in any other way.

Clean and prepare the fish as directed, wipe it dry. Dip it in milk, place in a colander for five minutes, then roll in flour, and fry. It may also be fried just rolled in flour.

_Another way._--When wiped dry, dip in beaten egg, roll in bread-crumbs, and fry.

_Another._--When wiped dry, dip the fish in b.u.t.ter, and fry. Then the fish is dropped in hot fat (_see_ Frying), turned into a colander, salted, and served hot, with fried parsley around or in the middle, according to how the fish is arranged in the dish.

Fry the following as above: _carp_, _tench_, _frost_, _ba.s.s_, _perch_, _black and blue fish_, _gold_, _loach_, _mullet_, _porgy_, _weak_, _flounder_, _pike_, _pickerel_, _smelt_, _sun_, _herring_, and _white-fish of the lakes_.

_A la Orly._--If it is small fish, like the smelt, it is prepared whole; if the fish is larger, it must be boned and skinned, and cut in pieces about two inches long. Roll the fish, or pieces of fish, slightly in flour; dip it in beaten egg, and roll it again in bread-crumbs; then fry it in hot fat as above.

When fried, serve it with a tomato-sauce.

The fish may be served on a napkin in a dish, and the sauce in a boat or saucer.

_Roasted._--The following fishes only are roasted: _eel_, _salmon_, _shad_, _pike_, _turbot_.

Clean and prepare as directed, and then tie with twine. Spread salt, pepper, and melted b.u.t.ter (with a brush) all over the fish, and then envelop it in b.u.t.tered paper; set on the spit and roast. Baste with a little melted b.u.t.ter, and remove the paper about five minutes before it is done.

When on the dish the twine is cut off and removed, and it is served as hot as possible with the following sauces, to which tarragon is added in making them, if handy: _caper_, _Hollandaise_, _Mayonnaise_, _piquante_, _poivrade_, and _remolade_. A roast fish is served after roast meat.