Clean your Whitings, with Water and Salt, after they are gutted, and drying
them thoroughly, flour them well, then lay them on the Grid-Iron, first
rubbing it with a little Chalk. As you find them enough on one side, turn
them, and serve them, if they go to the Table alone, with Butter melted,
some Anchovy Liquor, and Oyster Sauce; these may make one of your grand
Dishes of Fish, but fry'd and boiled is enough, because there is never a
Dish of this kind, but there are many more at the same Treat, which will
give the Cook a great deal of difficulty, and besides you must still in
this Dish have some Spitchcot-Eels.
_N.B._ I forbear to mention here the manner of dresing Spitchcot-Eels, as
they are already set down in the first part of this Book.
When you fry Whitings, skewer their Tails in their Mouths; and some take
off their Skins.
The Grand Dish of Fish, and its Sauce.
When we have prepared these things, with regard to the grand Dish we
design, then make the following Sauce: _viz._
Sauce for a Bisque of Fish.
Take a Pint of Gravey, two or three spoonfuls of Mushroom Katchep, and a
spoonful or two of Mushroom Pickle; then add about a Gill of White Wine,
half an Onion, a slice of Lemon with the Peel, two Anchovies shred, some
Cloves, and Mace. When these have boiled half a quarter of an Hour, take
out the Onion, and Lemon, and thicken your Liquor, with about three Pounds
of Butter, rub'd in a little Flour; then put in the Body of a Crab, or
Lobster, Shrimps, Oysters, and Mushrooms, and it is ready to pour over your
Fish: but some rather chuse to serve this Sauce in Basons, lest it be too
high for every Palate. However, when you have disposed your Fish well in
the Dish, garnish with fry'd Bread, Horse-Radish scraped, fry'd Parsley,
Lemon sliced and pickled, red Beet-Root sliced, and serve it up hot. If
your Sauce is serv'd in Basons; then take care to have one Bason of plain
Butter: but if all your Company happens to like the rich Sauce, your Dish
of fish will make a much better appearance to have some of the Sauce pour'd
over it, before you lay on your Garnish. Remember to lay your Spitchcot
Eels near the edge of the Dish.
To broil _Herrings,_ so as to prevent their rising in the Stomach. From the
same.
Take fresh Herrings, scale them, gut them, and wash them; and when they are
well dry'd with a Cloth, strew them with flour of Ginger, as you would any
Fish with Flour, then broil them; and when they are enough, the taste of
the Ginger is quite lost: then serve them with Claret, Butter, Salt, and
Mustard, made into a Sauce, and they will not at all disturb the Stomach.
A white _Fricassee_ of _Rabbits._ From the same.
Take three or four young Rabbits and cut them to pieces, then put them in a
Stew-pan, with four Ounces of Butter; then season them with some Lemon-Peel
grated, a little Thyme, a little sweet Marjoram, Pepper, Salt, and a little
_Jamaica_, Pepper beaten fine. Let these be close cover'd, and stew them
gently, till they are tender; then take about half a Pint of Veal-Broth, an
Onion, some Lemon, a Sprig of sweet Marjoram, and some Spice, to your mind,
and put to it half a Gill of White Wine. Boil these together six or seven
Minutes, then pour away the Butter, in the Stew-pan, and strain your Veal
Gravey through a Sieve; then beat the Yolks of four Eggs, with half a Pint
of Cream. Then put some of the Broth, by degrees, to the Eggs and Cream,
keeping them stirring, lest they curdle, and you may put to it some Parsley
boil'd tender, and shred small; then put it to the Rabbits, and toss them
up thick with Butter, adding some pickled Mushrooms, and serve them hot
with a Garnish of sliced Lemon, and red Beet-Root pickled.
A _Neat's-Tongue_ roasted. From the same.
Take a large Neat's-Tongue, that has lain three Weeks in Salts mixed in the
following manner. Take a quarter of a Pound of Salt-Petre, half a Pound of
Bay-Salt, and three Pints of common Salt. This is enough to salt four
Tongues: let them be rubb'd well with this Mixture, and kept in a cool
place. Take, I say, one of these Tongues, and boil it till the Skin will
come off; and when it is stript of its Skin, stick it with Cloves, about an
Inch asunder, then put it on a Spit, and wrap a Veal-Cawl over it, till it
is enough; then take off the Cawl, and just froth it up, and serve it in a
Dish with Gravey. _Note_, The Cawl will keep the outside tender, which
otherwise would be hard. One must serve with it, in Saucers, of the
following: Grate a Penny-Loaf into about a Pint of Water, and half as much
Claret; then boil it thick, with two or three chips of Cinnamon, then
sweeten it to your mind, as you please: strew some sifted raspings of Bread
about the Dish, and garnish with Lemon sliced.
To dress a _Cow-Heel._ From the same.
Take out the Bones, and clean it, cut it to pieces, and wash it; then flour
it, and strew over it a little Pepper and Salt, then fry it brown in
Hog's-Lard, made very hot in the Pan. Prepare at the same time some small
Onions boiled whole, till they are tender, and pull off as many of the
Coats or Skins, till you see them pure white; then make a Sauce of Gravey,
some White-Wine, Nutmeg, and a little whole Spice, with a little Salt and
Pepper, and thicken it with burnt Butter. Let your Onions, when they are
skin'd, be made hot in Milk, and lay them whole in the Dish, with the
Cow-Heel, and pour the Sauce over the whole. Some who have strong Stomachs
will slice Onions, and flouring them well, fry them with with the Cow-Heel,
but this must be fry'd in Butter.
To make _Marmalade_ of _Quinces._ From the same.
Take the large _Portugal_ Quinces, pare them, and take out the Cores; then
cut each Quince in eight Parts, and throw them in Water; then boil the
Parings, and such of the Quinces as are of the worse sort, in two Quarts of
Water, till the Liquor is reduced to half the quantity: when this is
strain'd, put the Liquor into your Preserving-Pan, with a Pound of fine
Sugar powder'd, with two Pounds of Quinces: boil these gently, till they
are tender. Then if you design your Marmalade for mixing with Apples in
Pyes or Tarts, put to them a Pound more of Sugar to each two Pounds; break
them with a Spoon, and boil them briskly, keeping them stirring all the
while: then put them hot into the Gally-pot, when they are thick, and of a
reddish Colour. To heighten their redness, and keep them from burning to
the bottom, put into the Pan four or five pieces of pure Tin, as big as
Half-Crowns. But if you would have your Marmalade fine for Glasses, then,
when they are boil'd tender, take them out of the Liquor, and beat them
well in a Marble Mortar, and rub them through a Sieve; then put to them a
Pound of fine Sugar, and stir them well in the Liquor; boil them quick,
stirring them all the while, till they grow thick.
_Memorandum_, While they are boiling the second time, put in some pieces of
Tin, as before, and when they are enough, pour them hot into your Glasses
or Cups, first taking out the Pieces of Tin; and when your Marmalade is
cool, cover your Glasses and Cups with white Paper.
Boil'd _Tench._ From the same.
Take Tench, fresh from the Pond, gut them, and clear them from their
Scales; then put them into a Stew-pan, with as much Water as will cover
them, some Salt, some whole Pepper, some Lemon-Peel, a stick of Horse
Radish, a bunch of sweet Herbs, and a few Cloves; then boil them till they
are tender, and when they are enough, take some of the Liquor, and put to
it a Glass of White Wine, and a little Lemon-juice, or Verjuice, and an
Anchovy shred. Then boil it a few Minutes, and thicken it with Butter
rubb'd in Flour, tossing up a Pint of Shrimps with the Sauce, and pour it
over the Fish. Serve it with garnish of fry'd Bread, cut the length of
one's Finger, some Slices of Lemon and Horse-Radish scraped, with some
pickled Mushrooms, if you will, or you may toss up some of them in the
Sauce.
To bake _Tench._ From Lady G.
Take your Tench, fresh from the Pond, gut them, and clean them from the
Scales; then kill them, by giving them an hard stroke on the back of the
Head, or else they will live for many Hours, and even jump out of the Pan
in the Oven, when they are half enough. Then lay them in a Pan, with some
Mushroom Katchep, some strong Gravey, half a Pint of pickled Mushrooms, as
much White-Wine as Gravey, three or four large Shallots, an Anchovy or two,
two or three slices of fat Bacon, some Pepper, Cloves, and Nutmeg, at
pleasure, a little Salt, some Lemon-Peel, and a bunch of sweet Herbs; then
break some bits of Butter, and lay them on your Fish, then cover all as
close as you can, and give them an Hour's baking.
When they are enough, lay them in a hot Dish, and pour off the Liquor, and
strain it, only preserving the Mushrooms; then add to it a spoonful of
Lemon-Juice, and thicken your Sauce with the Yolks of four Eggs, beaten
with Cream, and mix'd, by degrees, with the Sauce. Pour this over your
Fish, and serve it hot with a Garnish of BeetRoots sliced, some slices of
Lemon-Peel, and some Horse-Radish scraped.
To roast a _Westphalia-Ham._ From the same.
Boil a Westphalia-Ham, as tender as it will be, with the Gravey in it; then
strip off the Skin, put it on a Spit, and having done it over with the Yolk
of an Egg, strew it all over with raspings or chippings of Bread finely
sifted, and mixt with a little Lemon-Peel grated. Baste it well when it is
before the Fire, and drudge it frequently with the above Mixture till it is
enough. Some, instead of Roasting it, will prepare it, with a good covering
of the aforesaid Mixture, and set it an Hour in the Oven, which answers
full as well. Then serve it, with boiled Pidgeons, _Russia_ Cabbages, if
you can get them, or Sprouts of Cabbages, curll'd, as big as Tennis-Balls,
or Collyflowers, or Brocoli. This is an excellent Dish, especially, if the
Cabbages, or Collyflowers, are toss'd up with Butter and Cream, but the
Brocoli must only have the Butter pour'd over them.
A Neck of _Mutton_ and _Broth._ From _L. P._ Esq.
The Method of this Broth was first from a mistake, where instead of boiling
a Neck of Mutton, as directed, the Cook roasted it. The Gentleman was in a
hurry for it, and call'd in half an Hour for his Neck of Mutton and Broth;
but the Cook had only that Neck in the House; which she was roasting, and
was then above half done: however, she takes it from the Spit, and cut it
in pieces, which she presently set over the Fire, with the Gravey that came
from it, with a small quantity of Water, and serv'd it up with some
Turnips, as soon as possible. The Relish which the Meat had gain'd by
roasting, gave the Broth so good a flavour, that it is recommended since
that time, by the Gentlemen who eat of it, where-ever they go; but with
this addition, that they take four or five _Hertfordshire_ Turnips, pare
them, and cut them in dice; then boil them in the Liquor with the half
roasted Mutton; and when they are enough, take them out of the Liquor, and
draining them a little, flour them, and adding a little Salt, fry them
either in Butter very hot, or in Hog's-Lard, and then serve them with
Pottage.