cucumbers, and cut up the white part or heart of six lettuces; slice two
onions, and cut small the leaves of six sprigs of fresh green mint,
unless mint is disliked by the persons that are to eat the soup; in
which case, substitute parsley. Add a quart of young green peas. Put the
whole into a soup-pot, with as much water as will more than cover them
well. Season slightly with salt and a little cayenne, and add half a
pound of nice fresh butter, divided into six, each piece dredged well
with flour. Boil the whole for an hour and a half. Then serve it up,
without straining; having colored it green with a tea-cup of pounded
spinach juice.
When green peas are out of season, you may substitute tomatos peeled and
quartered.
This soup, having no meat, is chiefly for fast days, but will be found
good at any time.
BAKED SOUP.--On the days that you bake bread, you may have a dish of
thick soup with very little trouble, by putting into a large earthen jug
or pipkin, or covered pan, the following articles:--Two pounds of
_fresh_ beef, or mutton, cut into small slices, having first removed the
fat; two sliced onions and four carrots, and four parsnips cut in four;
also, four turnips, six potatos pared and cut up, and half a dozen
tomatos, peeled and quartered. Season the whole with a little salt and
pepper. A large beet, scraped and cut up, will be an improvement. To
these things pour on three quarts of water. Cover the earthen vessel,
and set it in the oven with the bread, and let the soup bake at the same
time.
If the bread is done before the dinner hour, you must keep the soup
still longer in the oven.
Do not use _cold_ meat for this or any other soup, unless you are very
poor.
FISH.
TO CLEAN FISH.--This must always be done with the greatest care and
nicety. If sent to table imperfectly cleaned, they are disgraceful to
the cook, and disgusting to the sight and taste. Handle the fish
lightly; not roughly so as to bruise it. Wash it well, but do not leave
it in the water longer than is needful. It will lose its flavor, and
become insipid, if soaked. To scale it, lay the fish flat upon one side,
holding it firmly in the left hand, and with the right taking off the
scales by means of a knife. When both sides are done, pour sufficient
cold water over it to float off all the loose scales that may have
escaped your notice. It is best to pump on it. Then proceed to open and
empty the fish. Be sure that not the smallest particle of the entrails
is left in. Scrape all carefully from the backbone. Wash out all the
blood from the inside. A dexterous cook can draw a fish without
splitting it entirely down, all the way from head to tail. Smelts and
other small fish are drawn or emptied at the gills.
All fish should be cleaned or drawn as soon as they are brought in, and
then kept on ice, till the moment for cooking.
TO BOIL FISH.--No fish can be fit to eat unless the eyes are prominent
and lively, the gills very red, and the body firm and stiff, springing
back immediately when bent round to try them. Every scale must be
carefully scraped off, and the entrails entirely extracted; not the
smallest portion being carelessly left sticking to the backbone.
Previous to cooking, fish of every kind should be laid in cold water,
and the blood thoroughly washed from the inside. Few fish are not the
better for being put on to boil in cold water, heating gradually with it
till it comes to a boil. If you put it on in boiling water, the outside
becomes boiling hot too soon; and is apt to break and come off in
flakes, while the inside still remains hard and underdone: halibut,
salmon, cod, and other large thick fish must be boiled slowly and
thoroughly throughout, taking nearly as long as meat. Always put salt
into the water at the commencement, and a little vinegar towards the
last. In every kitchen should be a large oval kettle purposely for
boiling fish. This kettle has a movable strainer inside. The fish lies
on the strainer. To try if it is done, run a thin sharp knife in it,
till it reaches the backbone; and see if the flesh will loosen or
separate easily. If it adheres to the bone it requires more boiling.
When quite done, leave it no longer in the kettle, or it will lose its
flavor and get a woolly look. Take out the strainer with the fish upon
it. Drain off the water through the strainer, cover the fish with a
folded napkin or fine towel, doubled thick; transfer it to a heated
dish, and keep it warm and dry till it goes to table, directly after the
soup. In the mean time prepare the sauce to be served up along with the
fish.
FRYING FISH.--Fish should be fried in _very good_ fresh butter, or nice
beef drippings; or else in lard, which last, is the most usual method. A
large allowance of lard should be put into the pan, and held over a
clear fire, till it becomes so hot as to boil fast in the pan. Till the
lard hisses and bubbles do not put in the fish. They must first be dried
separately in a clean cloth, and then scored on the back in deep
incisions, or gashes, and slightly dredged with flour. Unless the lard
is amply sufficient in quantity to cover the fish well, and bear them up
towards the surface, they will sink heavily to the bottom of the pan,
and perhaps stick there and burn. Also, if there is not fat enough, the
fish will absorb the whole of what there is, and become dark-colored and
greasy.
BAKED FISH.--This is a dish for company. You may bake in the same manner
a shad, a fresh codfish, a sheep's head, a white fish, or a blue fish,
or a pair of large black fish. Trout also are considered fish for
baking. Cut off the head, and split the fish nearly down to the tail.
For a stuffing, cut two slices of nice light wheat bread, of shape and
size to fit easily into the inside of the fish, and spread them thickly
with very new fresh butter. Season them with cayenne and powdered mace,
and moisten them with port wine or sherry. Add the juice and yellow rind
of a lemon, grated; and sufficient powdered white sugar to take off the
extreme acid of the last. Fill the body of the fish with this stuffing,
kept in by tying round the fish, carefully, a white cotton cord, or
tape, so as to confine it in several places. Lay bits of fresh butter
over the outside, at equal distances. Place the fish on a trivet, in a
bake pan, and pour round it a pint of wine and water mixed. Baste it
with this frequently while baking. It will require at least an hour in a
quick oven. If the basting does not leave sufficient gravy, add half a
pint more of wine mixed with a little hot water.
When you have taken up the fish, keep it hot while you are finishing the
gravy, which you should thicken and enrich by stirring in smoothly a
piece of butter mixed slightly into a paste with flour, and seasoned
with grated nutmeg. Serve up the gravy in a sauce-boat, and lay slices
of lemon along the back of the fish, having, of course, removed the
string that was wound around it to confine the stuffing. Send to table
with the baked fish, a dish of potatos mashed with milk and butter, and
browned on the surface with a salamander, or a red hot shovel. Always
remove the seeds of lemon slices. Fresh mackerel may be baked thus.
Fish may be baked plainly, with a stuffing of sweet marjoram, minced
sage, and onion, (previously boiled and drained,) a little butter, or
finely chopped beef suet, and plenty of grated bread crumbs, seasoned
with a little black pepper. Or instead of crumbs you may put in slices
of bread and butter soaked in milk, and secured as above from falling
out while the fish is baking.
STEWED FISH.--Take any nice fresh fish of moderate size, and when it is
drawn and washed, cut it into three or four pieces, and put them into a
stew-pan with amply sufficient hot water to keep them from burning.
Season them with a little salt and cayenne. After it has simmered
steadily for half an hour, and been skimmed, have ready a quarter of a
pound of fresh butter, mixed into a smooth paste with a heaped
table-spoonful of flour. Add this to the stew, with a bunch of sweet
marjoram chopped fine, and a sprig of chopped parsley. If approved, add
a small onion pared and sliced very thin. Cover it closely, and let it
stew another half hour. Then send it to table. This is a family dish.
Any fresh fish may be stewed thus.
SPICED FISH.--Cold fish that has been left at dinner is very nice to put
away for the supper table. It should be fresh salmon, fresh cod,
rock-fish, halibut, or the remains of any other large fine fish. Take
out the back bone, and cut the flesh into moderate sized pieces. Lay it
in a deep dish that has a cover. Season the fish with cayenne pepper, a
little salt, some grated nutmeg, and some blades of mace; also some
whole black pepper-corns, and pour over it plenty of good cider vinegar.
Tarragon vinegar will be an improvement. Cover it closely, and set it in
a cold place till wanted. If in spring or summer, set it in ice.
We do not recommend cloves or allspice. The taste of those coarse spices
is so overpowering, (and to many persons so unpleasant,) that they are
now nearly out of use at good tables.
Nutmeg, mace and ginger, will be found much better, and with cinnamon
occasionally, are sufficient for all spice seasonings. Nevertheless, for
those who like them, a few cloves will relieve the insipidity of
halibut.
FISH CAKES.--Take codfish (either fresh or salt) that has been boiled
the day before. Carefully remove the bones, and mince the flesh. Mix
with it a quantity of warm mashed potatos, (mashed with butter and milk)
in the proportion of one third codfish, and two thirds mashed potatos.
Add sufficient beaten egg to make the whole into a smooth paste. Season
it with cayenne; and, if the mixture seems dry, moisten and enrich it
with a little butter. Make it into cakes about an inch thick, and as
large round as the top of a common sized tea-cup. Or into round balls.
Sprinkle them well with flour.
Fry them in lard, or beef-drippings. When one side is done turn them
over. Drain them, and send them to the breakfast table. If approved, you
may add to the mixture two or three onions boiled and minced. Any large
cold fish may be dressed in this manner for next morning's breakfast.
ROCK-FISH.--Rock-fish are generally plain boiled, (with the heads and
tails left on,) and they are eaten with egg sauce, (hard boiled eggs
chopped, and mixed with melted or drawn butter,) seasoned with a little
cayenne. Put on the side of your plate, any nice fish sauce from the
castors. Some serve up rock-fish with hard boiled eggs, cut into halves,
and laid closely in a row along the back of the fish; half an egg being
helped to each person. Cold butter is then eaten with it. We think this
a very nice way.
Blue fish, white fish, and black fish, may be drest in this manner.
Also, sea-bass.
BLACK FISH AND SEA-BASS--Are all boiled in the same manner, having first
carefully scaled, and drawn, and well washed them. In drawing fish take
care that the whole of the inside is nicely scraped from the back-bone,
all along. When ready, dredge a clean soft cloth with flour, wrap the
fish in it; lay it on the strainer of a fish-kettle, and put it in
plenty of water, into which has been thrown a small table-spoonful of
salt. Keep it steadily boiling near half an hour. Take it carefully out
of the cloth, drain it on the strainer, and keep it warm. Send to table
with it egg-sauce.
Eat mashed potatos with it.
_Frying._--To fry the above fish,--cut them in two or three pieces; wash
them and wipe them dry; score them with deep cuts, and season with
cayenne and a little salt--dredge them with flour, and fry them brown in
a pan nearly full of boiling lard.
Any fish may be fried in this manner.
FRESH COD.--A fine codfish should be very thick about the neck; the eyes
lively; the gills red; and the flesh firm and white. If flabby, it is
not good. It is in season from October till May. After scaling,
emptying, washing, and drying, cover it, and let it rest for an hour.
Then put it on in a fish-kettle of _cold_ water, (hard water if you can
procure it,) throw in a small handful of salt, and let the cod heat
gradually, skimming it well. Boil it gently, but steadily, till
thoroughly done. Then, take it out of the kettle, drain it, and keep it
warm till ready to go to table. No fish should be allowed to remain in
the water after the boiling is quite over. Serve it up with oyster or
lobster sauce.
You may broil fresh cod in steaks, or fry it in cutlets. For frying
fish, you may use beef or veal drippings, with the fat skimmed off
carefully. Mutton fat (which is tallow) is unfit for all cookery.
TROUT.--Trout is considered a very nice fish, and is in season in the
summer. When fresh it is a fine flesh color, and its spots are very
bright. To fry trout, dry them in a cloth. Score them deeply, and touch
each incision or cut with a little cayenne. Dredge them with flour.
Grate some bread-crumbs very fine, and in another pan beat some eggs
very light and thick. Dip each fish twice in the egg, and twice in the
crumbs, and fry them in plenty of boiling lard, or in a mixture of lard
and fresh butter. When done, drain them, and send them to table with a
dish of cucumbers sliced and dressed in the usual way, with vinegar,
pepper and salt.
If boiled, serve them up with egg sauce. If broiled, eat them with cold
butter and cayenne.
STEWED TROUT.--This is a dish for company. Mix together as much cold
water and sweet white wine, in equal quantities, as will well cover the
fish. When done, take them out of the stew pan, drain them, and keep
them hot while you prepare the gravy. For this, thicken the liquid with
a piece of fresh butter divided into four, each bit rolled in flour; and
add two or more well-beaten eggs, and season with powdered mace and
nutmeg. Mix all this together, give it one boil up, and pour it over the
trout, after they are dished for table.
BAKED TROUT.--Having cleaned the trout, wrap each fish in a very thin
slice of bacon, sprinkled with minced sweet marjoram, and seasoned with
cayenne and mace. Inclose each fish in a white paper, cut larger than to
fit exactly. Fasten the papers with strings or pins, to be removed
before the fish goes to table. Lay the trout in a square tin pan, and
bake them in the papers, which must be taken off when the fish are done;
but serve them up with the bacon round them or not, as you please.
SALT COD.--The afternoon before the fish is to be eaten, put it to soak
in plenty of cold water. Cover it, and let it stand in a warm place all
night. In the morning pour off that water, wash the fish clean, and
scrub the outside with a brush. Put it into a kettle with cold water
sufficient to cover it well; and let it boil fast till near dinner time,
skimming it well. About half an hour before dinner, pour off this
boiling water, and substitute a sufficiency of cold. In this last water
give the fish one boil up. Send it to table with egg sauce, made with
plenty of butter, and hard-boiled eggs cut in half, and laid closely
along the back of the fish, to be helped with it. Accompany the cod with
a plate of sliced beets drest with vinegar.
Next morning you may take what is left, and having removed all the bone,
mince the fish, and mix it with an equal quantity of mashed potatos,
adding some butter, pepper, and raw egg. Make the whole into balls or
flat cakes, and fry them in drippings or lard. They are good at
breakfast. On every one put a small spot of pepper.
FRIED SMELTS.--The smelt is a very nice little fish, which has a
peculiarly sweet and delicate flavor of its own, that requires, to be
tasted in perfection, no other cooking than plain broiling or frying in
fresh lard. Do not wash them, but wipe them dry in a clean cloth; having
opened and drawn them, (they should be drawn through the gills,) and cut
off the heads and tails, dredge them with flour. The frying-pan must be
more than two-thirds full of boiling lard; boiling hard when the smelts
are put in, so as to float them on the surface. If there is not
sufficient lard, or if it is not boiling, the fish will sink and be dark
colored, and greasy. About ten minutes are sufficient for the small
ones, and fifteen for those of a larger size. When done, drain off the
lard and send them to the breakfast table on a hot dish.
If you prefer retaining the heads and tails, dish them, alternately,
with the heads up and tails down.
FRIED CAT-FISH.--The best cat-fish are the small ones. If too large,
they are generally coarse and strong. They must be cooked quite fresh;
if possible, directly out of the water. They are very popular at fishing
parties. Wash and clean them, cutting off their heads and tails, and
removing the upper part of the back-bone, near the shoulders. Score them
along the back, with deep gashes or incisions. Dredge them with flour,
and fry them in plenty of lard, boiling fast when the cat-fish are put
into the pan. Or, you may fry them in the drippings or gravy saved from
roast beef, or veal. They are very nice dipped in a batter of beaten egg
and grated bread-crumbs, or they may be done in a plain, though not so
nice a way, with indian meal instead of bread-crumbs. Drain off the lard
before you dish them. Touch each incision or cut, _very slightly_, with
a little cayenne before they go to table.
Cat-fish are a breakfast dish, and are also eaten at supper. Porgie and
tutaug are cooked in this manner.
Any fish may be fried as above, when not split open.
FINE CHOWDER.--This is Commodore Stovens's receipt:--Take four
table-spoonfuls of minced onions that have been fried with slices of
salt pork; two pilot-biscuits broken up; one table-spoonful of minced
sweet marjoram, and one of sweet basil; a quarter of a bottle of
mushroom catchup; half a bottle of port wine; half a nutmeg grated; a
few cloves, and mace, and pepper-corns; six pounds of fresh cod, and
sea-bass, cut in slices. Put the whole into a pot, with water enough to
cover it about an inch. Boil it steadily for an hour, carefully stirring
it. Serve it up hot in a large deep dish.
Chowder may be made as above, substituting clams for the cod. The clams
must be chopped small. You may, for variety, make chowder with oysters,
or with boiled lobsters, or crabs; always beginning the mixture with
pork fried with onions.
YANKEE CHOWDER.--Having sliced very thin some salt fat pork, season it
with pepper, lay it in the bottom of a large iron pot, set it over the
fire, and let it fry. When done, take out the pork, leaving the liquid
fat in the bottom. Next, peel and slice some onions, and lay them on the
fat. Pour in sufficient clam or oyster liquor to stew the onions. Have
ready a sufficient quantity of sea-bass, black fish, tutaug, porgie,
haddock, or fresh cod. Cut the fish in small pieces, and put it into the
pot. Add plenty of potatos pared and quartered. Then some clam liquor;
and lastly, some crackers, (soaked and split,) or some soda biscuit; the
crackers to cover the top. If you wish to fill a large pot, repeat all
these ingredients, arranging them in layers. If there is not gravy
enough, add some boiling milk, poured in at the last, and enriched with
bits of butter mixed with flour. Cover the pot closely, and let it stew
half an hour, or more, till all the contents are thoroughly done. You
may bake the chowder in an iron oven, over a wood fire, heaping live
coals on the oven lid.
CLAM CHOWDER.--Put into boiling water from fifty to a hundred of the
small sand clams; and when all their shells have opened, take them out,
as they are then sufficiently boiled. Extract all the hard, or tough,
uneatable part, and throw it away. Slice thin as much salt pork as, when
fried in the bottom of a large pot, will produce half a pint of liquid
or gravy. Take out all the pork, leaving the liquid in the pot. Add to
it a layer of clams. Then a layer of biscuit soaked in milk or warm
water. Next another layer of clams; then another layer of soaked
biscuit; then more clams. Season it with pepper and mace. If there is no
objection to onions, add three or four boiled and sliced, and some
minced marjoram. Also, some potatos, boiled, peeled, and quartered. Let
the last layer be clams, and then cover the whole with a good paste, and
bake it in an iron oven, or boil it in an iron pot.
Chowder of fresh codfish, halibut, sea-bass, or any other good fish, is
made as above. Halibut requires a much larger portion of seasoning, and
a little more pork. Though very large and therefore very profitable, it
is in itself the most tasteless of all fish. Plain boiled halibut is not
worth eating.
SALMON.--In choosing a salmon, see that the gills are a fine red, the
eyes full, the scales clear, and the whole fish stiff; the flesh being
of the peculiar red known as salmon-color. Between the flakes is a
substance called the curd, which gives it firmness. By keeping, this
substance melts down and the flesh becomes soft. A salmon can only be
eaten in perfection on the sea-coast where it was caught, and on the
same day. To transport it any distance, it must be enclosed in a box,
and well packed in ice. In America, salmon is found in the greatest
perfection on the coast of Maine, in the Kennebec. Very fine ones are
brought to Boston market. They also abound on the coasts of California
and Oregon. The American salmon is much larger than those of Europe. It
is so fine a fish that its own flavor is better than any that can be
communicated except by the most simple sauce. It requires as much
boiling as meat, that is, a quarter of an hour for every pound. It is in
season from May till August or September.
The lake salmon is good, but inferior to that of the ocean, in size,
richness, and color.
In boiling a large fish, to judge if it is done, draw up the strainer or
fish-plate, and with a thin knife try if the flesh separates easily from
the bone. If you can loosen it immediately, it is cooked enough. It
injures a fish to let it get cool in the water.
BOILED SALMON.--After carefully emptying the salmon, wash it very clean
from the blood inside, and remove the scales. To preserve the fine color
of the salmon, or to set the curd or creamy substance between the
flakes, it should be put into boiling water, allowing to a gallon of
water a handful of salt. After the water has been boiling a few minutes,
and has been skimmed, put in the fish, (laying it on the drainer,) and
let it boil moderately fast, skimming it well. It must be thoroughly
boiled. Underdone fish of every kind is disgusting and unwholesome.
Before it is taken from the fish kettle ascertain if it is sufficiently
cooked, by trying if the back-bone easily loosens from the flesh. A
quarter of an hour may be allowed for each pound, for a large thick
salmon requires as much cooking as meat. When you take it up, drain it
well, and serve it up immediately. Have ready some lobster sauce, or
shrimp, if more convenient. To make it, mince the meat of a boiled
lobster, mashing the coral with it, and mix it with melted or drawn
butter, made very thick, and having but a very small portion of water.
For shrimp sauce, boil the shrimps, take off their heads, and squeeze
out their bodies from the shells. Thicken with them the drawn butter.
Nothing should go with salmon that will interfere with the flavor of
this fine fish, or give it any taste that will overpower or weaken its
own.
Many prefer salmon with nothing more than cold butter spread on after it
is helped. We think, ourselves, that when the butter is very good, it is
not improved (for salmon) by the addition of flour and water; and a very
little is sufficient. You need use nothing from the castors except
cayenne.
It is usual to eat cucumbers with salmon, and no other vegetables; the
cucumbers to be pared, sliced, laid in cold water, and dressed, and
served up by themselves, with a little plate for each person, that the
vinegar, &c., of the cucumbers may not impart too much acid to the
salmon.
In places remote from the sea, a whole salmon is seldom seen at table
but at dinner parties, or at good hotels. In a very hot climate it
should not be seen at all. When in season, it can be bought in any
quantity by the pound, for a small family. For a small dinner company,
from four to six pounds will suffice.
Cook salmon-trout in the same manner. Large fish should be helped with a
silver fish trowel.