pour to it nine quarts of cold water, bring it gently to boil, skim it
very clean, boil it if large an hour and a half, lift it out, and put
into the liquor eight pounds of neck of beef lightly browned in a little
fresh butter, with three or four thick slices of lean ham, four large
onions sliced, three heads of celery, three large carrots, a large bunch
of savoury herbs, the rind of a lemon pared very thin, a dessertspoonful
of peppercorns, two ounces of salt, and after the meat has been taken
from the head, all the bones and fragments. Stew these gently from six
to seven hours, then strain off the stock and set it into a very cool
place, that the fat may become firm enough on the top to be cleared off
easily. The skin and fat of the head should be taken off together and
divided into strips of two or three inches in length, and one in width;
the tongue may be carved in the same manner, or into dice. Put the
stock, of which there ought to be between four and five quarts, into a
large soup or stewpot; thicken it when it boils with four ounces of
fresh butter[29] mixed with an equal weight of fine dry flour, a
half-teaspoonful of pounded mace, and a third as much of cayenne (it is
better to use these sparingly at first, and to add more should the soup
require it, after it has boiled some little time); pour in half a pint
of sherry, stir the whole together until it has simmered for a minute or
two, then put in the head, and let it stew gently from an hour and a
quarter to an hour and a half: stir it often, and clear it perfectly
from scum. Put into it just before it is ready for table three dozens of
small forcemeat-balls; the brain cut into dice (after having been well
soaked, scalded,[30] and freed from the film), dipped into beaten yolk
of egg, then into the finest crumbs mixed with salt, white pepper, a
little grated nutmeg, fine lemon-rind, and chopped parsley fried a fine
brown, well drained and dried; and as many egg-balls, the size of a
small marble, as the yolks of four eggs will supply. (See Chapter VIII).
This quantity will be sufficient for two large tureens of soup; when the
whole is not wanted for table at the same time, it is better to add wine
only to so much as will be required for immediate consumption, or if it
cannot conveniently be divided, to heat the wine in a small saucepan
with a little of the soup, to turn it into the tureen, and then to mix
it with the remainder by stirring the whole gently after the tureen is
filled. Some persons simply put in the cold wine just before the soup is
dished, but this is not so well.
Footnote 29:
When the butter is considered objectionable, the flour, without it,
may be mixed to the smoothest batter possible, with a little cold
stock or water, and stirred briskly into the boiling soup: the spices
should be blended with it.
Footnote 30:
The brain should be blanched, that is, thrown into boiling water with
a little salt in it, and boiled from five to eight minutes, then
lifted out and laid into cold water for a quarter of an hour: it must
be wiped very dry before it is fried.
Whole calf’s head with skin on, boiled 1-1/2 hour. Stock: neck of beef,
browned in butter, 8 lbs.; lean of ham, 1/2 to 3/4 lb.; onions, 4; large
carrots, 3; heads of celery, 3; large bunch herbs; salt, 2 oz. (as much
more to be added when the soup is made as will season it sufficiently);
thin rind, 1 lemon; peppercorns, 1 dessertspoonful; bones and trimmings
of head: 8 hours. Soup: stock, 4 to 5 quarts; flour and butter for
thickening, of each 4 oz.; pounded mace, half-teaspoonful; cayenne,
third as much (more of each as needed); sherry, half pint: 2 to 3
minutes. Flesh of head and tongue, nearly or quite 2 lbs.: 1-1/4 to
1-1/2 hour. Forcemeat-balls, 36; the brain cut and fried; egg-balls, 16
to 24.
_Obs._—When the brain is not blanched it must be cut thinner in the form
of small cakes, or it will not be done through by the time it has taken
enough colour: it may be altogether omitted without much detriment to
the soup, and will make an excellent corner dish if gently stewed in
white gravy for half an hour, and served with it thickened with cream
and arrow-root to the consistency of good white sauce, then rather
highly seasoned, and mixed with plenty of minced parsley, and some
lemon-juice.
GOOD CALF’S HEAD SOUP.
(_Not expensive._)
Stew down from six to seven pounds of the thick part of a shin of beef
with a little lean ham, or a slice of hung beef, or of Jewish beef,
trimmed free from the smoky edges, in five quarts of water until reduced
nearly half, with the addition, when it first begins to boil, of an
ounce of salt, a large bunch of savoury herbs, one large onion, a head
of celery, three carrots, two or three turnips, two small blades of
mace, eight or ten cloves, and a few white or black peppercorns. Let it
boil _gently_ that it may not be too much reduced, for six or seven
hours, then strain it into a clean pan and set it by for use. Take out
the bone from half a calf’s head with the skin on (the butcher will do
this if desired), wash, roll, and bind it with a bit of tape or twine,
and lay it into a stewpan, with the bones and tongue; cover the whole
with the beef stock, and stew it for an hour and a half; then lift it
into a deep earthen pan and let it cool in the liquor, as this will
prevent the edges from becoming dry or discoloured. Take it out before
it is quite cold; strain, and skim all the fat carefully from the stock;
and heat five pints in a large clean saucepan, with the head cut into
small thick slices or into inch-squares. As quite the whole will not be
needed, leave a portion of the fat, but add every morsel of the skin to
the soup, and of the tongue also. Should the first of these not be
perfectly tender, it must be simmered gently till it is so; then stir
into the soup from six to eight ounces of fine rice-flour mixed with a
quarter-teaspoonful of cayenne, twice as much freshly pounded mace, half
a wineglassful of mushroom catsup,[31] and sufficient cold broth or
water to render it of the consistence of batter; boil the whole from
eight to ten minutes; take off the scum, and throw in two glasses of
sherry; dish the soup and put into the tureen some delicately and well
fried forcemeat-balls made by the receipt No. 1, 2, or 3, of Chapter
VIII. A small quantity of lemon-juice or other acid can be added at
pleasure. The wine and forcemeat-balls may be omitted, and the other
seasonings of the soup a little heightened. As much salt as may be
required should be added to the stock when the head first begins to boil
in it: the cook must regulate also by the taste the exact proportion of
cayenne, mace, and catsup, which will flavour the soup agreeably. The
fragments of the head, with the bones and the residue of the beef used
for stock, if stewed down together with some water and a few fresh
vegetables, will afford some excellent broth, such as would be highly
acceptable, especially if well thickened with rice, to many a poor
family during the winter months.
Footnote 31:
Unless _very good_ and pure in flavour, we cannot recommend the
addition of this or of any other catsup to soup or gravy.
Stock: shin of beef, 6 to 7 lbs.; water, 5 quarts: stewed down (with
vegetables, &c.) till reduced nearly half. Boned half-head with skin on
stewed in stock: 1-1/2 hour. Soup: stock, 5 pints; tongue, skin of head,
and part of flesh: 15 to 40 minutes, or more if not quite tender.
Rice-flour, 6 to 8 oz.; cayenne, quarter-teaspoonful; mace, twice as
much; mushroom catsup, 1/2 wineglassful: 10 minutes. Sherry, 2
wineglassesful, forcemeat-balls, 20 to 30.
SOUP DES GALLES.
Add to the liquor in which a knuckle of veal has been boiled the usual
time for table as much water as will make altogether six quarts, and
stew in it gently sixpennyworth of beef bones and sixpennyworth of
pork-rinds. When the boiling is somewhat advanced, throw in the skin of
a calf’s head; and in an hour afterwards, or when it is quite tender,
lift it out and set it aside till wanted. Slice and fry four large mild
onions, stick into another eight or ten cloves, and put them into the
soup after it has stewed from six to seven hours. Continue the boiling
for two or three hours longer, then strain off the soup, and let it
remain until perfectly cold. When wanted for table, take it quite clear
from the fat and sediment, and heat it anew with the skin of the calf’s
head cut into dice, three ounces of loaf sugar, four tablespoonsful of
strained lemon-juice, two of soy, and three wineglassesful of sherry;
give it one boil, skim it well, and serve it as hot as possible. Salt
must be added to it sparingly in the first instance on account of the
soy: a proper seasoning of cayenne or pepper must not, of course, be
omitted.
This receipt was given to the writer, some years since, as a perfectly
successful imitation of a soup which was then, and is still, she
believes, selling in London at six shillings the quart. Never having
tasted the original _Soupe des Galles_ she cannot say how far it is a
correct one; but she had it tested with great exactness when she
received it first, and found the result a very good soup prepared at an
extremely moderate cost. The pork-rinds, when long boiled, afford a
strong and flavourless jelly, which might be advantageously used to give
consistence to other soups. They may be procured during the winter,
usually at the butcher’s, but if not, at the porkshops: they should be
carefully washed before they are put into the soup-pot. When a knuckle
of veal cannot conveniently be had, a pound or two of the neck and a
morsel of scrag of mutton may instead be boiled down with the
beef-bones; or two or three pounds of neck or shin of beef: but these
will, of course, augment the cost of the soup.
POTAGE À LA REINE.
(_A Delicate White Soup._)
Should there be no strong veal broth, nor any white stock in readiness,
stew four pounds of the scrag or knuckle of veal, with a thick slice or
two of lean ham, a faggot of sweet herbs, two moderate-sized carrots,
and the same of onions, a large blade of mace, and a half-teaspoonful of
white peppercorns, in four quarts of water until reduced to about five
pints; then strain the liquor, and set it by until the fat can be taken
entirely from it. Skin and wash thoroughly, a couple of fine fowls, or
three young pullets, and take away the dark spongy substance which
adheres to the insides; pour the veal broth to them, and boil them
gently from three quarters of an hour to an hour; then lift them out,
take off all the white flesh, mince it small, pound it to the finest
paste, and cover it with a basin until wanted for use. In the mean time
let the bodies of the fowls be put again into the stock, and stewed
gently for an hour and a half; add as much salt and cayenne, as will
season the soup properly, strain it off when sufficiently boiled, and
let it cool; skim off every particle of fat; steep, in a small portion
of it, which should be boiling, four ounces of the crumb of light stale
bread sliced thin, and when it has simmered a few minutes, drain or
wring the moisture from it in a clean cloth, add it to the flesh of the
chickens, and pound them together until they are perfectly blended; then
pour the stock to them in very small quantities at first, and mix them
smoothly with it; pass the whole through a sieve or tammy, heat it in a
clean stewpan, stir to it from a pint to a pint and a half of boiling
cream, and add, should it not be sufficiently thick, an ounce and a half
of arrow-root, quite free from lumps, and moistened with a few spoonsful
of cold milk or stock.
REMARK.—This soup, and the two which immediately follow it, if made with
care and great nicety by the exact directions given here for them, will
be found very refined and excellent. For stock: veal, 4 lbs.; ham, 6
oz.; water, 4 quarts; bunch of herbs; carrots, 2; onions, 2; mace, large
blade; peppercorns, 1/2 teaspoonful; salt: 5 hours. Fowls, 2, or
pullets, 3: 3/4 to 1 hour; stewed afterwards 1 to 1-1/2 hour. Crumb of
bread, 4 oz.; cream, 1 to 1-1/2 pint; arrow-root (if needed), 1-1/2 oz.
_Obs._—Some cooks pound with the bread and chickens the yolks of three
or four hard-boiled eggs, but these improve neither the colour nor the
flavour of the _potage_.
WHITE OYSTER SOUP.
(_or Oyster Soup à la Reine._)
When the oysters are small, from two to three dozens for each pint of
soup should be prepared, but this number can of course be diminished or
increased at pleasure. Let the fish (which should be finely conditioned
natives) be opened carefully; pour the liquor from them, and strain it;
rinse them in it well, and beard them; strain the liquor a second time
through a lawn sieve or folded muslin, and pour it again over the
oysters. Take a portion from two quarts of the palest veal stock, and
simmer the beards in it from twenty to thirty minutes. Heat the soup,
flavour it with mace and cayenne, and strain the stock from the
oyster-beards into it. Plump the fish in their own liquor, but do not
let them boil; pour the liquor to the soup, and add to it a pint of
boiling cream; put the oysters into the tureen, dish the soup, and send
it to table quickly. Should any thickening be required, stir briskly to
the stock an ounce and a half of arrow-root entirely free from lumps,
and carefully mixed with a little milk or cream; or, in lieu of this,
when a _rich_ soup is liked, thicken it with four ounces of fresh butter
well blended with three of flour.
Oysters, 8 to 12 dozens; pale veal stock, 2 quarts; cream, 1 pint;
thickening, 1 oz. arrow-root, or butter, 4 oz., flour, 3 oz.
RABBIT SOUP À LA REINE.
Wash and soak thoroughly three young rabbits, put them whole into the
soup-pot, and pour on them seven pints of cold water or of clear veal
broth; when they have stewed gently about three quarters of an hour lift
them out, and take off the flesh of the backs, with a little from the
legs should there not be half a pound of the former; strip off the skin,
mince the meat very small, and pound it to the smoothest paste; cover it
from the air, and set it by. Put back into the soup the bodies of the
rabbits, with two mild onions of moderate size, a head of celery, three
carrots, a faggot of savoury herbs, two blades of mace, a
half-teaspoonful of peppercorns, and an ounce of salt. Stew the whole
softly three hours; strain it off, let it stand to settle, pour it
gently from the sediment, put from four to five pints into a clean
stewpan, and mix it very gradually while hot with the pounded
rabbit-flesh; this must be done with care, for if the liquid be not
added in very small portions at first, the meat will gather into lumps
and will not easily be worked smooth afterwards. Add as much pounded
mace and cayenne as will season the soup pleasantly, and pass it through
a coarse but very clean sieve; wipe out the stewpan, put back the soup
into it, and stir in when it boils, a pint and a quarter of good
cream[32] mixed with a tablespoonful of the best arrow-root: salt, if
needed, should be thrown in previously.
Footnote 32:
We give this receipt exactly as we had it first compounded, but less
cream and rather more arrow-root might be used for it, and would adapt
it better to the economist.
Young rabbits, 3; water, or clear veal broth, 7 pints: 3/4 of an hour.
Remains of rabbits; onions, 2; celery, 1 head; carrots, 3; savoury
herbs; mace, 2 blades; white peppercorns, a half-teaspoonful; salt, 1
oz.: 3 hours. Soup, 4 to 5 pints; pounded rabbit-flesh, 8 oz.; salt,
mace, and cayenne, if needed; cream, 1-1/4 pint; arrow-root, 1
tablespoonful (or 1-1/2 ounce).
BROWN RABBIT SOUP.
Cut down into joints, flour, and fry lightly, two full grown, or three
young rabbits; add to them three onions of moderate size, also fried to
a clear brown; on these pour gradually seven pints of boiling water,
throw in a large teaspoonful of salt, clear off all the scum with care
as it rises, and then put to the soup a faggot of parsley, four not very
large carrots, and a small teaspoonful of peppercorns; boil the whole
very softly from five hours to five and a half; add more salt if needed,
strain off the soup, let it cool sufficiently for the fat to be skimmed
clean from it, heat it afresh, and send it to table with sippets of
fried bread. Spice, with a thickening of rice-flour, or of wheaten flour
browned in the oven, and mixed with a spoonful or two of very good
mushroom catsup, or of Harvey’s sauce, can be added at pleasure to the
above, with a few drops of eschalot-wine, or vinegar; but the simple
receipt will be found extremely good without them.
Rabbits, 2 full grown, or 3 small; onions fried, 3 middling-sized;
water, 7 pints; salt, 1 large teaspoonful or more; carrots, 4, a faggot
of parsley; peppercorns, 1 small teaspoonful: 5 to 5-1/2 hours.
SUPERLATIVE HARE SOUP.
Cut down a hare into joints, and put into a soup-pot, or large stewpan,
with about a pound of lean ham, in thick slices, three moderate-sized
mild onions, three blades of mace, a faggot of thyme, sweet marjoram,
and parsley, and about three quarts of good beef stock. Let it stew very
gently for full two hours from the time of its first beginning to boil,
and more, if the hare be old. Strain the soup and pound together very
fine the slices of ham and all the flesh of the back, legs, and
shoulders of the hare, and put this meat into a stewpan with the liquor
in which it was boiled, the crumb of two French rolls, and half a pint
of port wine. Set it on the stove to simmer twenty minutes; then rub it
through a sieve, place it again on the stove till very hot, but do not
let it boil: season it with salt and cayenne, and send it to table
directly.
Hare, 1; ham, 12 to 16 oz.; onions, 3 to 6; mace, 3 blades; faggot of
savoury herbs; beef stock, 3 quarts: 2 hours. Crumb of 2 rolls; port
wine, 1/2 pint; little salt and cayenne: 20 minutes.
A LESS EXPENSIVE HARE SOUP.[33]
Footnote 33:
The remains of a roasted hare, with the forcemeat and gravy, are
admirably calculated for making this soup.
Pour on two pounds of neck or shin of beef and a hare well washed and
carved into joints, one gallon of cold water, and when it boils and has
been thoroughly skimmed, add an ounce and a half of salt, two onions,
one large head of celery, three moderate-sized carrots, a teaspoonful of
black peppercorns, and six cloves.
Let these stew very gently for three hours, or longer, should the hare
not be perfectly tender. Then take up the principal joints, cut the meat
from them, mince, and pound it to a fine paste, with the crumb of two
penny rolls (or two ounces of the crumb of household bread) which has
been soaked in a little of the boiling soup, and then pressed very dry
in a cloth; strain, and mix smoothly with it the stock from the
remainder of the hare; pass the soup through a strainer, season it with
cayenne, and serve it when at the point of boiling; if not sufficiently
thick, add to it a tablespoonful of arrow-root moistened with a little
cold broth, and let the soup simmer for an instant afterwards. Two or
three glasses of port wine, and two dozens of small forcemeat-balls, may
be added to this soup with good effect.
Beef, 2 lbs.; hare, 1; water, 1 gallon; salt, 1-1/2 oz.; onions, 2;
celery, 1 head; carrots, 3; bunch of savoury herbs; peppercorns, 1
teaspoonful; cloves, 6: 3 hours, or more. Bread, 2 oz.; cayenne,
arrow-root (if needed), 1 tablespoonful.
ECONOMICAL TURKEY SOUP.
The remains of a roast turkey, even after they have supplied the usual
mince and broil, will furnish a tureen of cheap and excellent soup with
the addition of a little fresh meat. Cut up rather small two pounds of
the neck or other lean joint of beef, and pour to it five pints of cold
water. Heat these very slowly; skim the liquor when it begins to boil,
and add to it an ounce of salt, a small, mild onion (the proportion of
all the vegetables may be much increased when they are liked), a little
celery, and the flesh and bones of the turkey, with any gravy or
forcemeat that may have been left with them. Let these boil gently for
about three hours; then strain off the soup through a coarse sieve or
cullender, and let it remain until the fat can be entirely removed from
it. It may then be served merely well thickened with rice[34] which has
previously been boiled very dry as for currie, and stewed in it for
about ten minutes; and seasoned with one large heaped tablespoonful or
more of minced parsley, and as much salt and pepper or cayenne as it may
require. This, as the reader will perceive, is a somewhat frugal
preparation, by which the residue of a roast turkey may be turned to
economical account; but it is a favourite soup at some good English
tables, where its very simplicity is a recommendation. It can always be
rendered _more expensive_, and of richer quality, by the addition of
lean ham or smoked beef,[35] a larger weight of fresh meat, and catsup
or other store-sauces.
Footnote 34:
It will be desirable to prepare six ounces of rice, and to use as much
of it as may be required, the reduction of the stock not being always
equal, and the same weight of rice therefore not being in all cases
sufficient. Rice-flour can be substituted for the whole grain and used
as directed for _Rice Flour Soup_, page 15.
Footnote 35:
As we have stated in our chapter of Foreign Cookery, the _Jewish_
smoked beef, of which we have given particulars there, imparts a
superior flavour to soups and gravies; and it is an economical
addition to them, as a small portion of it will much heighten their
savour.
Turkey soup _à la reine_ is made precisely like the _Potage à la Reine_
of fowls or pullets, of which the receipt will be found in another part
of this chapter.
PHEASANT SOUP.
Half roast a brace of well-kept pheasants, and flour them rather thickly
when they are first laid to the fire. As soon as they are nearly cold
take all the flesh from the breasts, put it aside, and keep it covered
from the air; carve down the remainder of the birds into joints, bruise
the bodies thoroughly, and stew the whole gently from two to three hours
in five pints of strong beef broth; then strain off the soup, and press
as much of it as possible from the pheasants. Let it cool; and in the
mean time strip the skins from the breasts, mince them small, and pound
them to the finest paste, with half as much fresh butter, and half of
dry crumbs of bread; season these well with cayenne, sufficiently with
salt, and moderately with pounded mace and grated nutmeg, and add, when
their flavour is liked, three or four eschalots previously boiled tender
in a little of the soup, left till cold, and minced before they are put
into the mortar. Moisten the mixture with the yolks of two or three
eggs, roll it into small balls of equal size, dust a little flour upon
them, skim all the fat from the soup, heat it in a clean stewpan, and
when it boils throw them in and poach them from ten to twelve minutes,
but first ascertain that the soup is properly seasoned with salt and
cayenne. We have recommended that the birds should be partially roasted
before they are put into the soup-pot, because their flavour is much
finer when this is done than when they are simply stewed; they should be
placed rather near to a brisk fire that they may be quickly browned on
the surface without losing any of their juices, and the basting should
be constant. A slight thickening of rice-flour and arrow-root can be
added to the soup at pleasure, and the forcemeat-balls may be fried and
dropped into the tureen when they are preferred so. Half a dozen
eschalots lightly browned in butter, and a small head of celery, may
also be thrown in after the birds begin to stew, but nothing should be
allowed to prevail ever the natural flavour of the game itself; and this
should be observed equally with other kinds, as partridges, grouse, and
venison.
Pheasants, 2. roasted 20 to 25 minutes. Strong beef broth, or stock, 5
pints: 2 to 3 hours. Forcemeat-balls: breasts of pheasants, half as much
dry bread-crumbs and of butter, salt, mace, cayenne; yolks of 2 or 3
eggs (and at choice 3 or 4 boiled eschalots).
_Obs._—The stock may be made of six pounds of shin of beef, and four
quarts of water reduced to within a pint of half. An onion, a large
carrot, a bunch of savoury herbs, and some salt and spice should be
added to it: one pound of neck of veal or of beef will improve it.
ANOTHER PHEASANT SOUP.
Boil down the half-roasted birds as directed in the foregoing receipt,
and add to the soup, after it is strained and re-heated, the breasts
pounded to the finest paste with nearly as much bread soaked in a little
of the stock and pressed very dry; for the proper manner of mixing them,
see _Potage à la Reine_, page 29. Half a pint of small mushrooms
cleaned as for pickling, then sliced rather thickly, and stewed from ten
to fifteen minutes without browning, in an ounce or two of fresh butter,
with a slight seasoning of mace, cayenne, and salt, then turned into the
mortar and pounded with the other ingredients, will be found an
excellent addition to the soup, which must be passed through a strainer
after the breasts are added to it, brought to the point of boiling, and
served with sippets _à la Reine_, or with others simply fried of a
delicate brown and well dried. We have occasionally had a small quantity
of delicious soup made with the remains of birds which have been served
at table; and where game is frequently dressed, the cook, by reserving
all the fragments for the purpose, and combining different kinds, may
often send up a good tureen of such, made at a very slight cost.
Pheasants, 2; stock, 5 pints; bread soaked in gravy (see Panada, Chapter
VIII), nearly as much _in bulk_ as the flesh of the breasts of the
birds; mushrooms, 1/2 pint, stewed in one or two oz. of butter 10 to 15
minutes, then pounded with flesh of pheasants. Salt, cayenne and mace,
to season properly.
PARTRIDGE SOUP.
This is, we think, superior in flavour to the pheasant soup. It should
be made in precisely the same manner, but three birds allowed for it
instead of two. Grouse and partridges together will make a still finer
one; the remains of roast grouse even, added to a brace of partridges,
will produce a very good effect.
MULLAGATAWNY SOUP.
Slice, and fry gently in some good butter three or four large onions,
and when they are of a fine equal amber-colour lift them out with a
slice and put them into a deep stewpot, or large thick saucepan; throw a
little more butter into the pan, and then brown lightly in it a young
rabbit, or the prime joints of two, or a fowl cut down small, and
floured. When the meat is sufficiently browned, lay it upon the onions,
pour gradually to them a quart of good boiling stock, and stew it gently
from three quarters of an hour to an hour; then take it out, and pass
the stock and onions through a fine sieve or strainer. Add to them two
pints and a half more of stock, pour the whole into a clean pan, and
when it boils stir to it two tablespoonsful of currie-powder mixed with
nearly as much of browned flour, and a little cold water or broth, put
in the meat, and simmer it for twenty minutes or longer should it not be
perfectly tender, add the juice of a small lemon just before it is
dished, serve it very hot, and send boiled rice to table with it. Part
of a pickled mango cut into strips about the size of large straws, is
sometimes served in this soup, after being stewed in it for a few
minutes; a little of the pickle itself should be added with it. We have
given here the sort of receipt commonly used in England for
mullagatawny, but a much finer soup may be made by departing from it in
some respects. The onions, of which the proportion may be increased or
diminished to the taste, after being fried slowly and with care, that no
part should be overdone, may be stewed for an hour in the first quart of
stock with three or four ounces of grated cocoa-nut,[36] which will
impart a rich mellow flavour to the whole. After all of this that can be
rubbed through the sieve has been added to as much more stock as will be
required for the soup, and the currie-powder and thickening have been
boiled in it for twenty minutes, the flesh of part of a calf’s head,[37]
previously stewed almost tender, and cut as for mock turtle, with a
sweetbread also parboiled or stewed in broth, and divided into
inch-squares, will make an admirable mullagatawny, if simmered in the
stock until they have taken the flavour of the currie-seasoning. The
flesh of a couple of calves’ feet, with a sweetbread or two, may, when
more convenient, be substituted for the head. A large cupful of thick
cream, first mixed and boiled with a teaspoonful of flour or arrow-root
to prevent its curdling, and stirred into the soup before the
lemon-juice, will enrich and improve it much.
Footnote 36:
That our readers to whom this ingredient in soups is new, may not be
misled, we must repeat here, that although the cocoa-nut when it is
young and fresh imparts a _peculiarly_ rich flavour to any
preparation, it is not liked by all eaters, and is better omitted when
the taste of a party is not known, and only one soup is served.
Footnote 37:
The scalp or skin only of a calf’s head will make excellent
mullagatawny, with good broth for stock; and many kinds of shell-fish
also.
Rabbit, 1, or the best joints of, 2, or fowl, 1; large onions, 4 to 6;
stock, 1 quart: 3/4 to 1 hour. 2-1/2 pints more of stock; currie-powder,
2 heaped tablespoonsful, with 2 of browned flour; meat and all simmered
together 20 minutes or more; juice of lemon, 1 small; or part of pickled
mango stewed in the soup 3 to 4 minutes.
Or,—onions, 3 to 6; cocoa-nut, 3 to 4 oz.; stock, 1 quart; stewed 1
hour. Stock, 3 pints (in addition to the first quart); currie-powder and
thickening each, 2 large tablespoonsful: 20 minutes. Flesh of part of
calf s head and sweetbread, 15 minutes or more. Thick cream, 1 cupful;
flour or arrow-root, 1 teaspoonful; boiled 2 minutes, and stirred to the
soup. Chili vinegar, 1 tablespoonful, or lemon-juice, 2 tablespoonsful.
_Obs. 1._—The brain of the calf’s head stewed for twenty minutes in a
little of the stock, then rubbed through a sieve, diluted gradually with
more of the stock, and added as thickening to the soup, will be found an
admirable substitute for part of the flour.
_Obs. 2._—Three or four pounds of a breast of veal, or an equal weight
of mutton, free from bone and fat, may take the place of rabbits or
fowls in this soup, for a plain dinner. The veal should be cut into
squares of an inch and a half, or into strips of an inch in width, and
two in length; and the mutton should be trimmed down in the same way, or
into very small cutlets.
_Obs. 3._—For an elegant table, the joints of rabbit or of fowl should
always be boned before they are added to the soup, for which, in this
case, a couple of each will be needed for a single tureen, as all the
inferior joints must be rejected.
TO BOIL RICE FOR MULLAGATAWNY SOUPS, OR FOR CURRIES.
The Patna, or small-grained rice, which is not so good as the Carolina,
for the general purposes of cookery, ought to be served with currie.
First take out the unhusked grains, then wash the rice in several
waters, and put it into a large quantity of cold water; bring it gently
to boil, keeping it uncovered, and boil it softly for fifteen minutes,
when it will be perfectly tender, and every grain will remain distinct.
Throw it into a _large_ cullender, and let it drain for ten minutes near
the fire; should it not then appear _quite_ dry, turn it into a dish,
and set it for a short time into a gentle oven, or let it steam in a
clean saucepan near the fire. It should neither be stirred, except just
at first, to prevent its lumping while it is still quite hard, nor
touched with either fork or spoon; the stewpan may be shaken
occasionally, should the rice seem to require it, and it should be
thrown lightly from the cullender upon the dish. A couple of minutes
before it is done, throw in some salt, and from the time of its
beginning to boil remove the scum as it rises.
Patna rice, 1/2 lb.; cold water, 2 quarts: boiled slowly, 15 minutes.
Salt, 1 large teaspoonful.
_Obs._—This, of all the modes of boiling rice which we have tried, and
they have been very numerous, is indisputably the best. The Carolina
rice answers well dressed in the same manner, but requires four or five
minutes longer boiling: it should never be served until it is quite
tender. One or two minutes, more or less, will sometimes, from the
varying quality of the grain, be requisite to render it tender.
GOOD VEGETABLE MULLAGATAWNY.
Dissolve in a large stewpan or thick iron saucepan, four ounces of
butter, and when it is on the point of browning, throw in four large
mild onions sliced, three pounds weight of young vegetable marrow cut in
large dice and cleared from the skin and seeds, four large or six
moderate-sized cucumbers, pared, split, and emptied likewise of their
seeds, and from three to six large acid apples, according to the taste;
shake the pan often, and stew these over a gentle fire until they are
tolerably tender; then strew lightly over and mix well amongst them,
three heaped tablespoonsful of mild currie powder, with nearly a third
as much of salt, and let the vegetables stew from twenty to thirty
minutes longer; then pour to them gradually sufficient boiling water
(broth or stock if preferred) to just cover them, and when they are
reduced almost to a pulp press the whole through a hair-sieve with a
wooden spoon, and heat it in a clean stewpan, with as much additional
liquid as will make two quarts with that which was first added. Give any
flavouring that may be needed, whether of salt, cayenne, or acid, and
serve the soup extremely hot. Should any butter appear on the surface,
let it be carefully skimmed off, or stir in a small dessertspoonful of
arrow-root (smoothly mixed with a little cold broth or water) to absorb
it. Rice may be served with this soup at pleasure, but as it is of the
consistence of winter peas soup, it scarcely requires any addition. The
currie powder may be altogether omitted for variety, and the whole
converted into a plain vegetable _potage_; or it may be rendered one of
high savour, by browning all the vegetables lightly, and adding to them
rich brown stock. Tomatas, when in season, may be substituted for the
apples, after being divided, and freed from their seeds.
Butter, 4 oz.; vegetable marrow, pared and scooped, 3 lbs.; large mild
onions, 4; large cucumbers, 4; or middling-sized, 6; apples, or large
tomatas, 3 to 6; 30 to 40 minutes. Mild currie-powder, 3 heaped
tablespoonsful; salt, one small tablespoonful 20 to 32 minutes. Water,
broth, or good stock, 2 quarts.
CUCUMBER SOUP.
Pare, split, and empty from eight to twenty[38] fine, well grown, but
not old cucumbers,—those which have the fewest seeds are best for the
purpose; throw a little salt over them, and leave them for an hour to
drain, then put them with the white part only of a couple of mild onions
into a deep stewpan or delicately clean saucepan, cover them nearly half
an inch with pale but good veal stock, and stew them gently until they
are perfectly tender, which will be in from three quarters of an hour to
an hour and a quarter; work the whole through a hair-sieve, and add to
it as much more stock as may be needed to make the quantity of soup
required for table; and as the cucumbers, from their watery nature, will
thicken it but little, stir to it when it boils, as much arrow-root,
rice-flour, or _tous les mois_ (see page 1), as will bring it to a good
consistence; add from half to a whole pint of boiling cream, and serve
the soup immediately. Salt and cayenne sufficient to season it, should
be thrown over the cucumbers while they are stewing. The yolks of six or
eight eggs, mixed with a dessertspoonful of chili vinegar, may be used
for this soup instead of cream; three dessertspoonsful of minced parsley
may then be strewed into it a couple of minutes before they are added:
it must not, of course, be allowed to boil after they are stirred in.
Footnote 38:
This is a great disparity of numbers; but some regard must be had to
expense, where the vegetable cannot be obtained with facility.
SPRING SOUP AND SOUP À LA JULIENNE.
Throw into three quarts of strong clear broth, or shin of beef stock, or
of _consommé_, half a pint each of turnips and carrots prepared by the
directions of page 20, or turned into any other shape that may be
preferred, with rather less of the solid part of some white celery
stems, and of leeks or of very mild onions[39] mixed. The latter must,
if used, be sliced, drawn into rings, and divided into slight shreds.
When these have simmered from twenty to thirty minutes, add the leaves
of one or two lettuces and a few of sorrel, trimmed or torn, about the
size of half-a-crown. Continue the gentle boiling until these are
tender, and add at the moment of serving half a pint of asparagus-points
boiled very green, and as many French beans cut into small lozenges, and
also boiled apart; or substitute green peas for these last.
Footnote 39:
Only a very _subdued_ flavour of these is, we think, admissible for a
delicate vegetable soup of any kind.
For the _Julienne_ soup, first stew the carrots, &c. tolerably tender in
a couple of ounces of butter; pour the stock boiling to them; skim off
all the fat from the surface, and finish as above. Sprigs of chervil,
spinach (boiled apart, and sparingly added), green onions, very small
tufts of brocoli or cauliflower, may all be used in these soups at
choice. Both the kind and the proportion of the vegetables can be
regulated entirely by the taste. Bread stamped out with a _very small_
round cutter, and dried a pale brown in the oven, is added sometimes to
this spring soup, but is, we should say, no improvement. Winter
vegetables should have three or four minutes’ previous boiling (or
blanching) before they are put into the soup.
AN EXCELLENT GREEN PEAS SOUP.
Take at their fullest size, but before they are of bad colour or
worm-eaten, three pints of fine large peas, and boil them as for table
(see Chapter XVII.) with half a teaspoonful of carbonate of soda in the
water, that they may be very green. When they are quite tender, drain
them well, and put them into a couple of quarts of boiling, pale, but
_good_ beef or veal stock, and stew them in it gently for half an hour;
then work the whole through a fine hair-sieve, put it into a clean pan
and bring it to the point of boiling; add salt, should it be needed, and
a small teaspoonful of pounded sugar; clear off the scum entirely, and
serve the soup as hot as possible. An elegant variety of it is made by
adding a half pint more of stock to the peas, and about three quarters
of a pint of asparagus points, boiled apart, and well drained before
they are thrown into it, which should be done only the instant before it
is sent to table.
Green peas, 3 pints: boiled 25 to 30 minutes, or more. Veal or beef
stock, 2 quarts (with peas): 1/2 an hour. Sugar, one small teaspoonful;
salt, if needed.
_Obs._—When there is no stock at hand, four or five pounds of shin of
beef boiled slowly down with three quarts of water to two, and well
seasoned with savoury herbs, young carrots, and onions, will serve
instead quite well. A thick slice of lean, undressed ham, or of Jewish
beef, would improve it.
Should a common English peas soup be wished for, make it somewhat
thinner than the one above, and add to it, just before it is dished,
from half to three quarters of a pint of young peas boiled tender and
well drained.
GREEN PEAS SOUP, WITHOUT MEAT.
Boil tender in three quarts of water, with the proportions of salt and
soda directed for them in Chapter XVII., one quart of large, full grown
peas; drain and pound them in a mortar, mix with them gradually five
pints of the liquor in which they were cooked, put the whole again over
the fire, and stew it gently for a quarter of an hour; then press it
through a hair-sieve. In the mean time, simmer in from three to four
ounces of butter,[40] three large, or four small cucumbers pared and
sliced, the hearts of three or four lettuces shred small, from one to
four onions, according to the taste, cut thin, a few small sprigs of
parsley, and, when the flavour is liked, a dozen leaves or more of mint
roughly chopped: keep these stirred over a gentle fire for nearly or
quite an hour, and strew over them a half-teaspoonful of salt, and a
good seasoning of white pepper or cayenne. When they are partially done
drain them from the butter, put them into the strained stock, and let
the whole boil gently until all the butter has been thrown to the
surface, and been entirely cleared from it; then throw in from half to
three quarters of a pint of young peas boiled as for eating, and serve
the soup immediately.
Footnote 40:
Some persons prefer the vegetables slowly fried to a fine brown, then
drained on a sieve, and well dried before the fire; but though more
savoury so, they do not improve the colour of the soup.
When more convenient, the peas, with a portion of the liquor, may be
rubbed through a sieve, instead of being crushed in a mortar; and when
the colour of the soup is not so much a consideration as the flavour,
they may be slowly stewed until perfectly tender in four ounces of good
butter, instead of being boiled: a few green onions, and some branches
of parsley may then be added to them.
Green peas, 1 quart; water, 5 pints: cucumbers, 3 to 6; lettuces, 3 or
4; onions, 1 to 4; little parsley; mint (if liked), 12 to 20 leaves;
butter, 3 to 4 oz.; salt, half-teaspoonful; seasoning of white pepper or
cayenne: 50 to 60 minutes. Young peas, 1/2 to 3/4 of a pint.
_Obs._—We must repeat that the peas for these soups must not be _old_,
as when they are so, their fine sweet flavour is entirely lost, and the
dried ones would have almost as good an effect; nor should they be of
inferior kinds. Freshly gathered marrowfats, taken at nearly or quite
their full growth, will give the best quality of soup. We are credibly
informed, but cannot assert it on our own authority, that it is often
made for expensive tables in early spring, with the young tender plants
or halms of the peas, when they are about a foot in height. They are cut
off close to the ground, like small salad, we are told, then boiled and
pressed through a strainer, and mixed with the stock. The flavour is
affirmed to be excellent.
A CHEAP GREEN PEAS SOUP.
Wash very clean and throw into an equal quantity of boiling water salted
as for peas, three quarts of the shells, and in from twenty to thirty
minutes, when they will be quite tender, turn the whole into a large
strainer, and press the pods strongly with a wooden spoon. Measure the
liquor, put two quarts of it into a clean deep saucepan, and when it
boils add to it a quart of full grown peas, two or even three large
cucumbers, as many moderate-sized lettuces freed from the coarser leaves
and cut small, one large onion (or more if liked) sliced extremely thin
and stewed for half an hour in a morsel of butter before it is added to
the soup, or gently fried without being allowed to brown; a branch or
two of parsley, and, when the flavour is liked, a dozen leaves of mint.
Stew these softly for an hour, with the addition of a small teaspoonful,
or a larger quantity if required of salt, and a good seasoning of fine
white pepper or of cayenne; then work the whole of the vegetables with
the soup through a hair-sieve, heat it afresh, and send it to table with
a dish of small fried sippets. The colour will not be so bright as that
of the more expensive soups which precede it, but it will be excellent
in flavour.
Pea-shells, 3 quarts; water, 3 quarts: 20 to 30 minutes. Liquor from
these, 2 quarts; full-sized green peas, 1 quart; large cucumbers, 2 or
3; lettuces, 3; onion, 1 (or more); little parsley; mint, 12 leaves;
seasoning of salt and pepper or cayenne: stewed 1 hour.
_Obs._—The cucumbers should be pared, quartered, and freed from the
seeds before they are added to the soup. The peas, as we have said
already more than once, should not be _old_, but taken at their full
growth, before they lose their colour: the youngest of the shells ought
to be selected for the liquor.
RICH PEAS SOUP.
Soak a quart of fine yellow split peas for a night, drain them well, and
put them into a large soup-pot with five quarts of good brown gravy
stock; and when they have boiled gently for half an hour, add to the
soup three onions, as many carrots, and a turnip or two, all sliced and
fried carefully in butter; stew the whole softly until the peas are
reduced to pulp, then add as much salt and cayenne as may be needed to
season it well, give it two or three minutes’ boil, and pass it through
a sieve, pressing the vegetables with it. Put into a clean saucepan as
much as may be required for table, add a little fresh stock to it should
it be too thick, and reduce it by quick boiling if too thin; throw in
the white part of some fresh celery sliced a quarter of an inch thick,
and when this is tender send the soup quickly to table with a dish of
small fried or toasted sippets. A dessertspoonful or more of
currie-powder greatly improves peas soup: it should be smoothly mixed
with a few spoonsful of it, and poured to the remainder when this first
begins to boil after having been strained.
Split peas, 1 quart: soaked one night. Good brown gravy soup, 5 quarts:
30 minutes. Onions and carrots browned in butter, 3 of each; turnips, 2:
2-1/2 to 3-1/2 hours. Cayenne and salt as needed. Soup, 5 pints; celery,
sliced, 1 large or 2 small heads: 20 minutes.
_Obs._—When more convenient, six pounds of neck of beef well scored and
equally and carefully browned, may be boiled gently with the peas and
fried vegetables in a gallon of water (which should be poured to them
boiling) for four or five hours.
COMMON PEAS SOUP.
Wash well a quart of good split peas, and float off such as remain on
the surface of the water; soak them for one night, and boil them with a
bit of soda the size of a filbert in just sufficient water to allow them
to break to a mash. Put them into from three to four quarts of good beef
broth, and stew them in it gently for an hour; then work the whole
through a sieve, heat afresh as much as may be required for table,
season it with salt and cayenne or common pepper, clear it perfectly
from scum, and send it to table with fried or toasted bread. Celery
sliced and stewed in it as directed for the rich peas soup, will be
found a great improvement to this.
Peas, 1 quart: soaked 1 night; boiled in 2 quarts or rather more of
water, 2 to 2-1/2 hours. Beef broth, 3 to 4 quarts: 1 hour. Salt and
cayenne or pepper as needed: 3 minutes.
PEAS SOUP WITHOUT MEAT.
To a pint of peas, freed from all that are worm-eaten, and well washed,
put five pints of cold water, and boil them tolerably tender; then add a
couple of onions (more or less according to the taste), a couple of fine
carrots grated, one large or two moderate-sized turnips sliced, all
gently fried brown in butter; half a teaspoonful of black pepper, and
three times as much of salt. Stew these softly, keeping them often
stirred, until the vegetables are sufficiently tender to pass through a
sieve; then rub the whole through one, put it into a clean pan, and when
it boils throw in a sliced head of celery, heighten the seasoning if
needful, and in twenty minutes serve the soup as hot as possible, with a
dish of fried or toasted bread cut into dice. A little chili vinegar can
be added when liked: a larger proportion of vegetables also may be
boiled down with the peas at pleasure. Weak broth, or the liquor in
which a joint has been boiled, can be substituted for the water; but the
soup is very palatable as we have given the receipt for it. Some persons
like it flavoured with a little mushroom catsup. All peas soup is
rendered more wholesome by the addition of a small quantity of
currie-paste or powder.
Split peas, 1 pint; water, 5 pints: 2 hours or more. Onions, 2; carrots,
2; large turnip, 1; pepper, 1/2 teaspoonful; salt, 1-1/2 teaspoonful: 1
to 1-1/2 hour. Celery, 1 head: 20 minutes.
OX-TAIL SOUP.
An inexpensive and very nutritious soup may be made of ox-tails, but it
will be insipid in flavour without the addition of a little ham, knuckle
of bacon, or a pound or two of other meat. Wash and soak three tails,
pour on them a gallon of cold water, let them be brought gradually to
boil, throw in an ounce and a half of salt, and clear off the scum
carefully as soon as it forms upon the surface; when it ceases to rise,
add four moderate-sized carrots, from two to four onions, according to
the taste, a large faggot of savoury herbs, a head of celery, a couple
of turnips, six or eight cloves, and a half-teaspoonful of peppercorns.
Stew these gently from three hours to three and a half, if the tails be
very large; lift them out, strain the liquor, and skim off all the fat;
divide the tails into joints, and put them into a couple of quarts or
rather more of the stock; stir in, when these begin to boil, a
thickening of arrow-root or of rice flour (see page 4), mixed with as
much cayenne and salt as may be required to flavour the soup well, and
serve it very hot. If stewed down until the flesh falls away from the
bones, the ox-tails will make stock which will be quite a firm jelly
when cold; and this, strained, thickened, and well flavoured with
spices, catsup, or a little wine, would, to many tastes, be a superior
soup to the above. A richer one still may be made by pouring good beef
broth instead of water to the meat in the first instance.
Ox-tails, 3; water, 1 gallon; salt, 1-1/2 oz.; carrots, 4; onions, 2 to
4; turnips, 2; celery, 1 head; cloves, 8; peppercorns, 1/2 teaspoonful;
faggot of savoury herbs: 3 hours to 3-1/2. For a richer soup, 5 to 6
hours. (Ham or gammon of bacon at pleasure, with other flavourings.)
_Obs._—To increase the savour of this soup when the meat is not served
in it, the onions, turnips, and carrots may be gently fried until of a
fine light brown, before they are added to it.
A CHEAP AND GOOD STEW SOUP.
Put from four to five pounds of the gristly part of the shin of beef
into three quarts of cold water, and stew it very softly indeed, with
the addition of the salt and vegetables directed for _bouillon_ (see
page 7), until the whole is very tender; lift out the meat, strain the
liquor, and put it into a large clean saucepan, add a thickening of
rice-flour or arrow-root, pepper and salt if needed, and a tablespoonful
of mushroom catsup. In the mean time, cut all the meat into small, thick
slices, add it to the soup, and serve it as soon as it is very hot. The
thickening and catsup may be omitted, and all the vegetables, pressed
through a strainer, may be stirred into the soup instead, before the
meat is put back into it.
SOUP IN HASTE.
Chop tolerably fine a pound of lean beef, mutton, or veal, and when it
is partly done, add to it a small carrot and one small turnip cut in
slices, half an ounce of celery, the white part of a moderate-sized
leek, or a quarter of an ounce of onion. Mince all these together, and
put the whole into a deep saucepan with three pints of cold water. When
the soup boils take off the scum, and add a little salt and pepper. In
half an hour it will be ready to serve with or without straining: it may
be flavoured at will, with cayenne, catsup, or aught else that is
preferred, or it may be converted into French spring broth, by passing
it through a sieve, and boiling it again for five or six minutes, with a
handful of young and well washed sorrel. Meat, 1 lb.; carrot, 2 oz.;
turnip, 1-1/2 oz.; celery, 1/2 oz.; onion, 1/4 oz. water, 3 pints: half
an hour. Little pepper and salt.
_Obs._—Three pounds of beef or mutton, with two or three slices of ham,
and vegetables in proportion to the above receipt, all chopped fine, and
boiled in three quarts of water for an hour and a half, will make an
excellent family soup on an emergency: additional boiling will of course
improve it, and a little spice should be added after it has been skimmed
and salted. It may easily be converted into carrot, turnip, or
ground-rice soup after it is strained.
VEAL OR MUTTON BROTH.
To each pound of meat add a quart of cold water, bring it gently to
boil, skim it very clean, add salt in the same proportion as for
_bouillon_ (see page 7), with spices and vegetables also, unless
_unflavoured_ broth be required, when a few peppercorns, a blade or two
of mace, and a bunch of savoury herbs, will be sufficient; though for
some purposes even these, with the exception of the salt, are better
omitted. Simmer the broth for about four hours, unless the quantity be
very small, when from two and a half to three, will be sufficient. A
little rice boiled down with the meat will both thicken the broth, and
render it more nutritious. Strain it off when done, and let it stand
till quite cold that the fat may be entirely cleared from it: this is
especially needful when it is to be served to an invalid.
Veal or mutton, 4 lbs.; water, 4 quarts; salt. (For vegetables, &c., see
page 7;) rice (if used), 4 oz.: 4 hours or more.
MILK SOUP WITH VERMICELLI.
Throw into five pints of boiling milk a small quantity of salt, and then
drop lightly into it five ounces of good fresh vermicelli; keep the milk
stirred as this is added, to prevent its gathering into lumps, and
continue to stir it very frequently from fifteen to twenty minutes, or
until it is perfectly tender. The addition of a little pounded sugar and
powdered cinnamon renders this a very agreeable dish. In Catholic
countries, milk soups of various kinds constantly supply the place of
those made with meat, on _maigre_ days; and with us they are sometimes
very acceptable, as giving a change of diet for the nursery or sick
room. Rice, semoulina, sago, cocoa-nut, and maccaroni may all in turn be
used for them as directed for other soups in this chapter, but they will
be required in rather smaller proportions with the milk.
Milk, 5 pints; vermicelli, 5 oz.: 15 to 20 minutes.
CHEAP RICE SOUP.
Place a gallon of water on the fire (more or less according to the
quantity of soup required), and when it boils, throw in a moderate-sized
tablespoonful of salt, and two or three onions, thickly sliced, a faggot
of sweet herbs, a root of celery, and three or four large carrots split
down into many divisions, and cut into short lengths. Boil these gently
for an hour and a half, or two hours, and then strain the liquor from
them. When time will permit, let it become cold; then for each quart,
take from three to four ounces of well washed rice, pour the soup on it,
heat it _very_ slowly, giving it an occasional stir, and stew it gently
until it is perfectly tender, and the potage quite thick. A moderate
seasoning of pepper, and an ounce or two of fresh butter well blended
with a teaspoonful of flour, may be thoroughly stirred up with the soup
before it is served; or, in lieu of the butter, the yolks of two or
three new-laid eggs, mixed with a little milk, may be carefully added to
it.
It may be more quickly prepared by substituting vermicelli, semoulina,
or soujee for the rice, as this last will require three quarters of an
hour or more of stewing after it begins to boil, and the three other
ingredients—either of which must be dropped gradually into the soup when
it is in full ebullition—will be done in from twenty to thirty minutes;
and two ounces will thicken sufficiently a quart of broth.
A large tablespoonful of Captain White’s currie-paste, and a small one
of flour, diluted with a spoonful or twos of the broth, or with a little
milk or cream, if perfectly mixed with the rice and stewed with it for
fifteen or twenty minutes before it is dished, render it excellent: few
eaters would discover that it was made without meat.
Good beef or mutton broth can be used instead of water for the above
soup, and in that case the vegetables sliced small, or rubbed through a
strainer, may be added to it before it is served.
CARROT SOUP MAIGRE.
Throw two ounces of salt into a gallon of boiling water, then add three
or four carrots quartered or thickly sliced, one onion or more according
to the taste, and a faggot of parsley, or some parsley roots. When these
have boiled gently for upwards of an hour, strain off the liquor and put
it back into the saucepan. Have ready more carrots, nicely scraped and
washed; split them down into strips about the size of large macaroni and
cut them into half finger lengths. Two quarts of these will not be too
much for persons who like the soup well filled with the vegetable; boil
them perfectly tender, and turn them with their liquor into the tureen,
first adding pepper sufficient to season it properly, and more salt if
needed. The proportion of carrots may be diminished, and a quart or more
of Brussels sprouts, boiled and drained, may be substituted for part of
them. Some persons have these soups thickened, or enriched as they
think, with flour and butter; but the latter ingredient should at least
be sparingly used; and any other kind of thickening is more wholesome. A
few ounces of vermicelli stewed in them for twenty minutes or rather
longer, will be found a very good one. Celery, leeks, and turnips may be
boiled down in the carrot-stock, or added when the fresh vegetables have
been stewed in it for about ten minutes.
CHEAP FISH SOUPS.
An infinite variety of excellent soups may be made of fish, which may be
stewed down for them in precisely the same manner as meat, and with the
same addition of vegetables and herbs. When the skin is coarse or rank
it should be carefully stripped off before the fish is used; and any
oily particles which may float on the surface should be entirely removed
from it.
In France, Jersey, Cornwall, and many other localities, the conger eel,
divested of its skin, is sliced up into thick cutlets and made into
soup, which we are assured by English families who have it often served
at their tables, is extremely good. A half-grown fish is best for the
purpose. After the soup has been strained and allowed to settle, it must
be heated afresh, and rice and minced parsley may be added to it as for
the turkey soup of page 32; or it may be thickened with rice-flour only,
or served clear. Curried fish-soups, too, are much to be recommended.
When broth or stock has been made as above with conger eel, common eels,
whitings, haddocks, codlings, fresh water fish, or any common kind,
which may be at hand, flakes of cold salmon, cod fish, John Dories, or
scallops of cold soles, plaice,[41] &c., may be heated and served in it;
and the remains of crabs or lobsters mingled with them. The large
oysters sold at so cheap a rate upon the coast, and which are not much
esteemed for eating raw, serve admirably for imparting flavour to soup,
and the softer portions of them may be served in it after a few minutes
of gentle simmering. Anchovy or any other store fish-sauce may be added
with good effect to many of these pottages if used with moderation.
Prawns and shrimps likewise would generally be considered an improvement
to them.
Footnote 41:
Some persons prefer the vegetables slowly fried to a fine brown, then
drained on a sieve, and well dried before the fire; but though more
savoury so, they do not improve the colour of the soup.
For more savoury preparations, fry the fish and vegetables, lay them
into the soup-pot, and add boiling, instead of cold water to them.
BUCHANAN CARROT SOUP.
(_Excellent._)
Make two quarts of soup by either of the foregoing receipts, using for
it good brown stock (for a common family dinner strong beef broth will
do). Mix smoothly with a little liquid, a tablespoonful of fine
currie-powder, and boil it in the soup for ten minutes; or instead of
this, season it rather highly with cayenne pepper, and then stir into it
from six ounces to half a pound of Patna rice boiled dry and tender as
for a currie. The whole may then remain by the side of the fire without
even simmering for ten minutes longer, and then be served immediately.
As a winter _potage_ this is generally much liked. A spoonful of
_Captain White’s_ currie-paste will flavour it very agreeably if
smoothly diluted, and simmered in it for two or three minutes: we prefer
it always to the powder. Three or four ounces of pearl-barley well
washed, soaked for some hours, and boiled extremely tender in broth or
water, may on occasion be substituted for the rice.
_Obs._—This receipt was, from inadvertence, omitted at its proper place,
page 20, where it ought to have been inserted after the carrot soups
which will be found there, and to which the reader is referred for the
method of preparing the present one in part.
OBSERVATION.
The present chapter already so far exceeds the limits within which it
ought to have been confined, that we are obliged to reserve several
additions which we were desirous of making to it, for the chance of
being able to insert them in an appendix.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER II.
=Fish.=
[Illustration:
TO CHOOSE FISH.
]
[Illustration:
Copper Fish or Ham Kettle.
]
The cook should be well acquainted with the signs of freshness and good
condition in fish, as they are most unwholesome articles of food when
stale, and many of them are also dangerous eating when they are out of
season. The eyes should always be bright, the gills of a fine clear red,
the body stiff, the flesh firm, yet elastic to the touch, and the smell
not disagreeable.
When all these marks are reversed, and the eyes are sunken, the gills
very dark in hue, the fish itself flabby and of offensive odour, it is
bad, and should be avoided. The chloride of soda, will, it is true,
restore it to a tolerably eatable state,[42] if it be not very much
over-kept, but it will never resemble in quality and wholesomeness fish
which is fresh from the water.
Footnote 42:
We have known this applied very successfully to salmon which from some
hours’ keeping in sultry weather had acquired a slight degree of
taint, of which no trace remained after it was dressed; as a general
rule, however, fish which is not _wholesomely fresh_ should be
rejected for the table.
[Illustration:
Mackerel Kettle.
]
A good turbot is thick, and full fleshed, and the under side is of a
pale cream colour or yellowish white; when this is of a bluish tint, and
the fish is thin and soft, it should be rejected. The same observations
apply equally to soles.
The best salmon and cod fish are known by a small head, very thick
shoulders, and a small tail; the scales of the former should be bright,
and its flesh of a fine red colour; to be eaten in perfection it should
be dressed as soon as it is caught, before the curd (or white substance
which lies between the flakes of flesh) has melted and rendered the fish
oily. In that state it is really crimp, but continues so only for a very
few hours; and it bears therefore a much higher price in the London
market then, than when mellowed by having been kept a day or two.
The flesh of cod fish should be white and clear before it is boiled,
whiter still after it is boiled, and firm though tender, sweet and mild
in flavour, and separated easily into large flakes. Many persons
consider it rather improved than otherwise by having a little salt
rubbed along the inside of the back-bone and letting it lie from
twenty-four to forty-eight hours before it is dressed,. It is sometimes
served crimp like salmon, and must then be sliced as soon as it is dead,
or within the shortest possible time afterwards.
Herrings, mackerel, and whitings, unless newly caught, are quite
uneatable. When they are in good condition their natural colours will be
very distinct and their whole appearance glossy and fresh. The herring
when first taken from the water is of a silvery brightness; the back of
the mackerel is of a bright green marked with dark stripes; but this
becomes of a coppery colour as the fish grows stale. The whiting is of a
pale brown or fawn colour with a pinkish tint; but appears dim and
leaden-hued when no longer fresh.
Eels should be alive and brisk in movement when they are purchased, but
the “horrid barbarity,” as it is truly designated, of skinning and
dividing them while they are so, is without excuse, as they are easily
destroyed “by piercing the spinal marrow close to the back part of the
skull with a sharp pointed knife or skewer. If this be done in the right
place all motion will instantly cease.” We quote Dr. Kitchener’s
assertion on this subject; but we know that the mode of destruction
which he recommends is commonly practised by the London fishmongers.
Boiling water also will immediately cause vitality to cease, and is
perhaps the most humane and ready method of destroying the fish.
Lobsters, prawns, and shrimps, are very stiff when freshly boiled, and
the tails turn strongly inwards; when these relax, and the fish are soft
and watery, they are stale; and the smell will detect their being so,
instantly, even if no other symptoms of it be remarked. If bought alive,
lobsters should be chosen by their weight and “liveliness.” The hen
lobster is preferred for sauce and soups, on account of the coral; but
the flesh of the male is generally considered of finer flavour for
eating. The vivacity of their leaps will show when prawns and shrimps
are fresh from the sea.
Oysters should close forcibly on the knife when they are opened: if the
shells are apart ever so little they are losing their condition, and
when they remain far open the fish are dead, and fit only to be thrown
away. Small plump natives are very preferable to the larger and coarser
kinds.
TO CLEAN FISH.
Let this be always done with the most scrupulous nicety, for nothing can
more effectually destroy the appetite, or disgrace the cook, than fish
sent to table imperfectly cleaned. Handle it lightly, and never throw it
roughly about, so as to bruise it; wash it well, but do not leave it
longer in the water than is necessary; for fish, like meat, loses its
flavour from being soaked. When the scales are to be removed, lay the
fish flat upon its side and hold it firmly with the left hand, while
they are scraped off with the right; turn it, and when both sides are
done, pour or pump sufficient water to float off all the loose scales;
then proceed to empty it; _and do this without opening it more than is
absolutely necessary for the purposes of cleanliness_. Be sure that not
the slightest particle of offensive matter be left in the inside; wash
out the blood entirely, and scrape or brush it away if needful from the
back-bone. This may easily be accomplished without opening the fish so
much as to render it unsightly when it is sent to table. When the scales
are left on, the outside of the fish should be well washed and wiped
with a coarse cloth, drawn gently from the head to the tail. Eels to be
wholesome should be skinned, but they are sometimes dressed without;
boiling water should then be poured upon them, and they should be left
in it from five to ten minutes before they are cut up. The dark skin of
the sole must be stripped off when it is fried, but it should be left on
it like that of a turbot when the fish is boiled, and it should be
dished with the white side upwards. Whitings are skinned before they are
egged and crumbed for frying, but for boiling or broiling, the skin is
left on them. The gills of all fish (the red mullet sometimes excepted),
must be taken out. _The fins of a turbot_, _which are considered a great
delicacy, should be left untouched_; but those of most other fish must
be cut off.
TO KEEP FISH.
We find that all the smaller kinds of fish keep best if emptied and
cleaned as soon as they are brought in, then wiped gently as dry as they
can be, and hung separately by the head on the hooks in the ceiling of a
cool larder, or in the open air when the weather will allow. When there
is danger of their being attacked by flies, a wire safe, placed in a
strong draught of air, is better adapted to the purpose. Soles in winter
will remain good for two days when thus prepared; and even whitings and
mackerel may be kept so without losing any of their excellence. Salt may
be rubbed slightly over cod fish, and well along the back-bone; but it
injures the flavour of salmon, the inside of which may be rubbed with
vinegar and peppered instead. When excessive sultriness renders all of
these modes unavailing, the fish must at once be partially cooked to
preserve it, but this should be avoided if possible, as it is very
rarely so good when this method is resorted to.
TO SWEETEN TAINTED FISH.
The application of strong vinegar, or of acetic acid (which may be
purchased at the chemists’), will effect this when the taint is but
slight. The vinegar should be used pure; and one wineglassful of the
acid should be mixed with two of water. Pour either of these over the
fish, and rub it on the parts which require it; then leave it untouched
for a few minutes, and wash it afterwards well, changing the water two
or three times. When the fish is in a worse state the chloride of soda,
from its powerful anti-putrescent properties, will have more effect: it
may be diluted, and applied in the same manner as the acid.
_Obs._—We have retained here the substance of the directions which we
had given in former editions of this book for _rendering eatable_ fish
(and meat) tainted by being closely packed or overkept; and it is true
that they may be deprived of their offensive flavour and odour by the
application of strong acids and other disinfecting agents,—Beaufoy’s
chloride of soda more especially—but we are very doubtful whether they
can by any process be converted into _unquestionably wholesome_ food,
unless from some accidental circumstance the mere surface should be
affected, or some small portion of them, which could be entirely cut
away. We cannot, therefore, conscientiously recommend the _false
economy_ of endangering health in preference to rejecting them for the
table altogether.
THE MODE OF COOKING BEST ADAPTED TO DIFFERENT KINDS OF FISH.
It is not possible, the reader will easily believe, to insert in a work
of the size of the present volume, all the modes of dressing the many
varieties of fish which are suited to our tables; we give, therefore,
only the more essential receipts in detail, and add to them such general
information as may, we trust, enable even a moderately intelligent cook
to serve all that may usually be required, without difficulty.
There is no better way of dressing a good turbot, brill, John Dory, or
cod’s head and shoulders, than plain but careful boiling. Salmon is
excellent in almost every mode in which it can be cooked or used. Boiled
entire or in crimped slices; roasted in a cradle-spit or Dutch oven;
baked; fried in small collops; collared; potted; dried and smoked;
pickled or soused (this is the coarsest and least to be recommended
process for it, of any); made into a raised or common pie, or a
potato-pasty; served cold in or with savoury jelly, or with a
_Mayonnaise_ sauce; or laid on potatoes and baked, as in Ireland, it
will be found Good.
Soles may be either boiled, or baked, or fried entire, or in fillets;
curried; stewed in cream; or prepared by any of the directions given for
them in the body of this chapter.
Plaice, unless when in full season and very fresh, is apt to be watery
and insipid; but taken in its perfection and carefully cooked, it is
very sweet and delicate in flavour. If large, it may be boiled with
advantage either whole or in fillets; but to many tastes it is very
superior when filleted, dipped into egg and bread-crumbs, and fried. The
flesh may also be curried; or the plaice may be converted into
water-souchy, or _soupe-maigre_: when small it is often fried whole.
Red mullet should always be _baked_, _broiled_, or _roasted_: it should
on no occasion be boiled.
Mackerel, for which many receipts will be found in this chapter, when
broiled _quite whole_, as we have directed, or freed from the bones,
divided, egged, crumbed, and fried, is infinitely superior to the same
fish cooked in the ordinary manner.
The whiting, when _very_ fresh and in season, is always delicate and
good; and of all fish is considered the best suited to invalids. Perhaps
_quite_ the most wholesome mode of preparing it for them, is to open it
as little as possible when it is cleansed, to leave the skin on, to dry
the fish well, and to broil it gently. It should be sent very hot to
table, and will require no sauce: twenty minutes will usually be
required to cook it, if of moderate size.
The haddock is sometimes very large. We have had it occasionally from
our southern coast between two and three feet in length, and it was then
remarkably good when simply boiled, even the day after it was caught,
the white curd between the flakes of flesh being like that of extremely
fresh salmon. As it is in full season in mid-winter, it can be sent to a
distance without injury. It is a _very_ firm fish when large and in
season; but, as purchased commonly at inland markets, is often neither
fine in size nor quality. _One_ of the best modes of cooking it is, to
take the flesh entire from the bones, to divide it, dip it into egg and
bread-crumbs, mixed with savoury herbs finely minced, and a seasoning of
salt and spice, and to fry it like soles. Other receipts for it will be
found in the body of this chapter.
The flesh of the gurnard is exceedingly dry, and somewhat _over firm_,
but when filled with well-made forcemeat and gently baked, it is much
liked by many persons. At good tables, it is often served in fillets
fried or baked, and richly sauced: in common cookery it is sometimes
boiled.
Portions only of the skate, which is frequently of _enormous_ size, are
used as food: these are in general cut out by the fisherman or by the
salesman, and are called the wings. The flesh is commonly served here
divided into long narrow fillets, called crimped skate, which are rolled
up and fastened, to preserve them in that form, while they are cooked.
In France, it is sent to table raised from the bones in large portions,
sauced with _beurre-noir_ (burned or browned butter), and strewed with
well-crisped parsley.
Trout, which is a delicious fish when stewed in gravy, either quite
simply, or with the addition of wine and various condiments, and which
when of small size is very sweet and pleasant, eating nicely fried, is
poor and insipid when plainly boiled.[43]
Footnote 43:
We have been informed by Mr. Howitt, the well-known author of several
highly interesting works on Germany, that this fish, when boiled the
instant it was caught—as he had eaten it often on the banks of some
celebrated German trout-streams—was most excellent, especially when it
was of large size; but, as a general rule, almost any other mode of
cooking is to be recommended for it in preference.
Pike, of which the flesh is extremely dry, is we think better baked than
dressed in any other way; but it is often boiled.
Carp should either be stewed whole in the same manner as trout, or
served cut in slices, in a rich sauce called a _matelote_.
Smelts, sand-eels, and white-bait, are always fried; the last two
sometimes after being dipped into batter.
THE BEST MODE OF BOILING FISH.
We have left unaltered in the following receipts the greater number of
our original directions for boiling fish, which were found when
carefully followed, to produce a good result; but Baron Liebeg and other
scientific writers explain clearly the principles on which the nutriment
contained in fish or flesh is best retained by bringing the surface of
either when it is cooked, into immediate contact with _boiling_ water;
and then (after a few minutes of ebullition) lowering the temperature by
the addition of cold water, and keeping it somewhat below the boiling
point for the remainder of the process. This method is at least worthy
of a trial, even if it be attended with a slight degree more of trouble
than those in general use; but when fish is served with a variety of
other dishes, the escape of some portion of its nutritious juices is of
less importance than when it forms the principal food of any part of the
community: in that case, the preservation of all the nourishment which
can be derived from it, is of real consequence.
_Directions._—Throw into as much water as will cover the fish entirely,
a portion of the salt which is to be added in cooking it, and when it
boils quickly take off the scum, lay in the fish, and let it boil
moderately fast from three to ten minutes, according to its weight and
thickness; then pour in as much cold water as there is of the boiling,
take out a part, leaving sufficient only to keep the fish well covered
until it is ready to serve; add the remainder of the salt, draw the
fish-kettle to the side of the fire, and keep the water _just
simmering_, and no more, until the fish is done.
The cook will understand that if a gallon of water be required to cover
the fish while it is cooking, that quantity must be made to boil; and
that a gallon of cold must be added to it after the fish has been laid
in, and _kept boiling_ for a very few minutes. For example:—A large
turbot or cod’s head for ten minutes; a moderate-sized plaice or John
Dory, about five; and whitings, codlings, and other small fish, from
three to four minutes. That one gallon must then be taken out of the
kettle, which should immediately be drawn from the fire, and placed at
the side of the stove, that the fish may be gradually heated through as
the water is brought slowly to the point of simmering.
The whole of the salt may be added after a portion of the water is
withdrawn, when the cook cannot entirely depend on her own judgment for
the precise quantity required.
_Obs._—This is the best _practical_ application that we can give of
Baron Liebeg’s instructions.
BRINE FOR BOILING FISH.
Fish is exceedingly insipid if sufficient salt be not mixed with the
water in which it is boiled, but the precise quantity required for it
will depend, in some measure, upon the kind of salt which is used. Fine
common salt is that for which our directions are given; but when the
Maldon salt, which is very superior in strength, as well as in other
qualities, is substituted for it, a smaller quantity must be allowed.
About four ounces to the gallon of water will be sufficient for small
fish in general; an additional ounce, or rather more, will not be too
much for cod fish, lobsters, crabs, prawns, and shrimps; and salmon will
require eight ounces, as the brine for this fish should be strong: the
water should always be perfectly well skimmed from the moment the scum
begins to form upon the surface.
Mackerel, whiting, and other small fish, 4 ounces of salt to a gallon of
water. Cod fish, lobsters, crabs, prawns, shrimps, 5 to 6 oz. Salmon, 8
ozs.
TO RENDER BOILED FISH FIRM.
Put a small bit of saltpetre with the salt into the water in which it is
boiled: a quarter of an ounce will be sufficient for a gallon.
TO KNOW WHEN FISH IS SUFFICIENTLY BOILED, OR OTHERWISE COOKED.
If the _thickest_ part of the flesh separates easily from the back-bone,
it is quite ready to serve, and should be withdrawn from the pan without
delay, as further cooking would be injurious to it. This test can easily
be applied to a fish which has been divided, but when it is entire it
should be lifted from the water when the flesh of the tail breaks from
the bone, and the eyes loosen from the head.
TO BAKE FISH.
A gentle oven may be used with advantage, for cooking almost every kind
of fish, as we have ascertained from our own observation; but it must be
subjected to a mild degree of heat only. This penetrates the flesh
gradually, and converts it into wholesome succulent food; whereas, a
_hot oven_ evaporates all the juices rapidly, and renders the fish hard
and dry. When small, they should be wrapped in oiled or buttered paper
before they are baked; and when filleted, or left in any other form, and
placed in a deep dish with or without any liquid before they are put
into the oven, a buttered paper should still be laid closely upon them
to keep the surface moist. Large pieces of salmon, conger eel, and other
fish of considerable size are sometimes in common cookery baked like
meat over potatoes pared and halved.
FAT FOR FRYING FISH.
This, whether it be butter, lard, or oil should always be excellent in
quality, for the finest fish will be rendered unfit for eating if it be
fried in fat that is rancid. When good, and used in sufficient quantity,
it will serve for the same purpose several times, if strained after each
frying, and put carefully away in a clean pan, provided always that it
has not been smoked nor burned in the using.
Lard renders fish more crisp than butter does; but fresh, pure olive-oil
(_salad oil_, as it is commonly called in England) is the _best_
ingredient which can be used for it, and as it will serve well for the
same purpose, many times in succession, if strained and carefully stored
as we have already stated, it is not in reality so expensive as might be
supposed for this mode of cooking. There should always be an ample
quantity of it (or of any other _friture_[44]) in the pan, as the fish
should be nearly covered with it, at the least; and it should cease to
bubble before either fish or meat is laid into it, or it will be too
much absorbed by the flesh, and will impart neither sufficient firmness,
nor sufficient colour.
Footnote 44:
The French term for fat of all kinds used in frying.
TO KEEP FISH HOT FOR TABLE.
Never leave it in the water after it is done, but if it cannot be sent
to table as soon as it is ready to serve, lift it out, lay the
fish-plate into a large and a very hot dish, and set it across the
fish-kettle; just dip a clean cloth into the boiling water, and spread
it upon the fish, place a tin cover over it, and let it remain so until
two or three minutes before it is wanted, then remove the cloth, and put
the fish back into the kettle for an instant that it may be as hot as
possible: drain, dish, and serve it immediately: the water should be
kept boiling the whole time.
TO BOIL A TURBOT.
[In season all the year.]
[Illustration:
Turbot.
]
A fine turbot, in full season, and well served, is one of the most
delicate and delicious fish that can be sent to table; but it is
generally an expensive dish, and its excellence so much depends on the
manner in which it is dressed, that great care should be taken to
prepare it properly. After it is emptied, wash the inside until it is
perfectly cleansed, and rub _lightly_ a little fine salt over the
outside, as this will render less washing and handling necessary, by at
once taking off the slime; change the water several times, and when the
fish is as clean as it is possible to render it, draw a sharp knife
through the thickest part of the middle of the back nearly through to
the bone.[45] _Never cut off the fins_ of a turbot when preparing it for
table, and remember that it is the dark side of the fish in which the
incision is to be made, to prevent the skin of the white side from
cracking. Dissolve in a well-cleaned turbot or common fish-kettle, in as
much cold spring water as will cover the fish abundantly, salt, in the
proportion of four ounces to the gallon; wipe the fish-plate with a
clean cloth, lay the turbot upon it with the white side upwards, place
it in the kettle, bring it slowly to boil, and clear off the scum
_thoroughly_ as it rises. Let the water only just simmer until the fish
is done, then lift it out, drain, and slide it gently on to a very hot
dish, with a hot napkin neatly arranged over the drainer. Send it
immediately to table with rich lobster sauce and good plain melted
butter. For a simple dinner, anchovy or shrimp sauce is sometimes served
with a small turbot. Should there be any cracks in the skin of the fish,
branches of curled parsley may be laid lightly over them, or part of the
inside coral of a lobster, rubbed through a fine hair-sieve, may be
sprinkled over the fish; but it’s better without either, when it is very
white and unbroken. When garnishings are in favour, a slice of lemon and
a tuft of curled parsley, may be placed alternately round the edge of
the dish. A border of fried smelts or of fillets of soles, was formerly
served round a turbot, and is always a very admissible addition, though
no longer so fashionable as it was. From fifteen to twenty minutes will
boil a moderate-sized fish, and from twenty to thirty a large one; but
as the same time will not always be sufficient for a fish of the same
weight, the cook must watch it attentively, and lift it out as soon as
its appearance denotes its being done.
Footnote 45:
This is the common practice even of the _best_ cooks, but is very
unscientific nevertheless. When the incision is made really into the
flesh the turbot should be cooked altogether on Liebeg’s plan, for
which see “The Best Mode of Boiling Fish,” in the preceding pages.
Moderate sized turbot, 15 to 20 minutes. Large, 20 to 30 minutes.
Longer, if of unusual size.
_Obs._—A lemon gently squeezed, and rubbed over the fish, is thought to
preserve its whiteness. Some good cooks still put turbot into _boiling_
water, and to prevent its breaking, tie it with a cloth tightly to the
fish-plate.
TURBOT À LA CRÊME.
Raise carefully from the bones the flesh of a cold turbot, and clear it
from the dark skin; cut it into small squares, and put it into an
exceedingly clean stewpan or saucepan; then make and pour upon it the
cream sauce of Chapter V., or make as much as may be required for the
fish by the same receipt, with equal proportions of milk and cream and a
little additional flour. Heat the turbot slowly in the sauce, but do not
allow it to boil, and send it very hot to table. The white skin of the
fish is not usually added to this dish, and it is of better appearance
without it; but for a family dinner, it may be left on the flesh, when
it is much liked. No acid must be stirred to the sauce until the whole
is ready for table.
TURBOT AU BÉCHAMEL, OR, IN BÉCHAMEL SAUCE.
Prepare the cold turbot as for the preceding receipt, but leave no
portion of the skin with it. Heat it in a rich _bechamel_ sauce, and
serve it in a _vol-au-vent_, or in a deep dish with a border of fried
bread cut in an elegant form, and made with one dark and one light
sippet, placed alternately. The surface may be covered with a half-inch
layer of delicately fried bread-crumbs, perfectly well drained and
dried; or they may be spread over the fish without being fried, then
moistened with clarified butter, and browned with a salamander.
FOR MOULD OF COLD TURBOT WITH SHRIMP CHATNEY, see Chapter VI.
TO BOIL A JOHN DORY.
[In best season from Michaelmas to Christmas, but good all the year.]
[Illustration:
John Dory.
]
The John Dory, though of uninviting appearance, is considered by some
persons as the most delicious fish that appears at table; in the general
estimation, however, it ranks next to the turbot, but it is far less
abundant in our markets, and is not commonly to be procured of
sufficient size for a handsome dish, except in some few parts of our
coast which are celebrated for it. It may easily be known by its yellow
gray colour, its one large dark spot on either side, the long filaments
on the back, a general thickness of form, and its very ugly head. It is
dressed in the same manner, and served usually with the same sauces as a
turbot, but requires less time to boil it. The fins should be cut off
before it is cooked.
SMALL JOHN DORIES BAKED.
(_Author’s Receipt—good._)
We have found these fish when they were too small to be worth cooking in
the usual way, excellent when quite simply baked in the following
manner, the flesh being remarkably sweet and tender, much more so than
it becomes by frying or broiling. After they have been cleaned, dry them
in a cloth, season the insides slightly with fine salt, dredge a little
flour on the fish, and stick a few very small bits of butter on them,
but only just sufficient to prevent their becoming dry in the oven; lay
them singly on a flat dish, and bake them very gently from fourteen to
sixteen minutes. Serve them with the same sauce as baked soles.
When extremely fresh, as it usually is in the markets of the coast, fish
thus simply dressed _au four_ is preferable to that more elaborately
prepared by adding various condiments to it after it is placed in a deep
dish, and covering it with a thick layer of bread-crumbs, moistened with
clarified butter.
The appearance of the John Dories is improved by taking off the heads,
and cutting away not only the fins but the filaments of the back.
TO BOIL A BRILL.
A fresh and full-sized brill always ranks high in the list of fish, as
it is of good appearance, and the flesh is sweet and delicate. It
requires less cooking than the turbot, even when it is of equal size;
but otherwise may be dressed and served in a similar manner. It has not
the same rich glutinous skin as that fish, nor are the fins esteemed.
They must be cut off when the brill is cleaned; and it may be put into
nearly boiling water, unless it be very large. Simmer it gently, and
drain it well upon the fish-plate when it is lifted out; dish it on a
napkin, and send lobster, anchovy, crab, or shrimp sauce to table with
it. Lobster coral, rubbed through a sieve, is commonly sprinkled over it
for a formal dinner. The most usual garnish for boiled flat fish is
curled parsley placed round it in light tufts; how far it is
_appropriate_, individual taste must decide.
Brill, moderate-sized, about 20 minutes; large, 30 minutes.
_Obs._—The _precise_ time which a fish will require to be boiled cannot
be given: it must be watched, and not allowed to remain in the water
after it begins to crack.
TO BOIL SALMON.
[In full season from May to August: may be had much earlier, but is
scarce and dear.]
To preserve the fine colour of this fish, and to _set the curd_ when it
is quite freshly caught, it is usual to put it into _boiling_, instead
of into cold water. Scale, empty, and wash it with the greatest nicety,
and be especially careful to cleanse all the blood from the inside. Stir
into the fish-kettle eight ounces of common salt to the gallon of water,
let it boil quickly for a minute or two, take off all the scum, put in
the salmon and boil it moderately fast, if it be small, but more gently
should it be very thick; and assure yourself that it is quite
sufficiently done before it is sent to table, for nothing can be more
distasteful, even to the eye, than fish which is under dressed.
From two to three pounds of the thick part of a fine salmon will require
half an hour to boil it, but eight or ten pounds will be done enough in
little more than double that time; less in proportion to its weight
should be allowed for a small fish, or for the thin end of a large one.
Do not allow the salmon to remain in the water after it is ready to
serve, or both its flavour and appearance will be injured. Dish it on a
hot napkin, and send dressed cucumber, and anchovy, shrimp, or lobster
sauce, and a tureen of plain melted butter to table with it.
To each gallon water, 8 oz. salt. Salmon, 2 to 3 lbs. (thick), 1/2 hour;
8 to 10 lbs., 1-1/4 hour; small, or thin fish, less time.
SALMON À LA GENEVESE.
A fashionable mode of serving salmon at the present day is to divide the
larger portion of the body into three equal parts; to boil them in
water, or in a marinade; and to serve them dished in a line, but not
close together, and covered with a rich Genevese sauce (for which see
Chapter V.) It appears to us that the skin should be stripped from any
fish over which the sauce is poured, but in this case it is not
customary.
CRIMPED SALMON.
Cut into slices an inch and a half, or two inches thick, the body of a
salmon _quite newly caught_; throw them into strong salt and water as
they are done, but do not let them soak in it; wash them well, lay them
on a fish-plate, and put them into fast boiling water, salted and well
skimmed. In from ten to fifteen minutes they will be done. Dish them on
a napkin, and send them very hot to table with lobster sauce, and plain
melted butter; or with the caper fish-sauce of Chapter V. The water
should be salted as for salmon boiled in the ordinary way, and the scum
should be cleared off with great care after the fish is in.
In boiling water, 10 to 15 minutes.
SALMON À LA ST. MARCEL.
Separate some cold boiled salmon into flakes, and free them entirely
from the skin; break the bones, and boil them in a pint of water for
half an hour. Strain off the liquor, put it into a clean saucepan and
stir into it by degrees when it begins to boil quickly, two ounces of
butter mixed with a large teaspoonful of flour, and when the whole has
boiled for two or three minutes add a teaspoonful of essence of
anchovies, one of good mushroom catsup, half as much lemon-juice or
chili vinegar, a half saltspoonful of pounded mace, some cayenne, and a
very little salt. Shell from half to a whole pint of shrimps, add them
to the salmon, and heat the fish very slowly in the sauce by the side of
the fire, but do not allow it boil. When it is very hot, dish and send
it quickly to table. French cooks, when they re-dress fish or meat of
any kind, prepare the flesh with great nicety, and then put it into a
stewpan, and pour the sauce upon it, which is, we think, better than the
more usual English mode of laying it into the boiling sauce. The cold
salmon may also be re-heated in the cream sauce of V., or in the _Mâitre
d’Hôtel_ sauce which follows it; and will be found excellent with
either. This receipt is for a moderate sized dish.
SALMON BAKED OVER MASHED POTATOES.
We are informed by a person who has been a resident in Ireland, that the
middle of a salmon is there often baked over mashed potatoes, from which
it is raised by means of a wire stand, as meat is in England. We have
not been able to have it tried, but an ingenious cook will be at no loss
for the proper method of preparing, and the time of cooking it. The
potatoes are sometimes merely pared and halved; the fish is then laid
upon them.
SALMON PUDDING, TO BE SERVED HOT OR COLD.
(_A Scotch Receipt—Good._)
Pound or chop small, or rub through a sieve one pound of cold boiled
salmon freed entirely from bone and skin; and blend it lightly but
thoroughly with half a pound of fine bread-crumbs a teaspoonful of
essence of anchovies, a quarter of a pint of cream, a seasoning of fine
salt and cayenne, and four well whisked eggs. Press the mixture closely
and evenly into a deep dish or mould, buttered in every part, and bake
it for one hour in a moderate oven.
Salmon, 1 lb.; bread-crumbs, 1/2 lb.; essence of anchovies, 1
teaspoonful; cream, 1/4 pint; eggs, 4; salt and cayenne; baked 1 hour.
TO BOIL COD FISH.
[In highest season from October to the beginning of February; in
perfection about Christmas.]
When this fish is large the head and shoulders are sufficient for a
handsome dish, and they contain all the choicer portion of it, though
not so much substantial eating as the middle of the body, which, in
consequence, is generally preferred to them by the frugal housekeeper.
Wash the fish, and cleanse the inside, and the back-bone in particular,
with the most scrupulous care; lay it into the fish-kettle and cover it
well with cold water mixed with five ounces of salt to the gallon, and
about a quarter of an ounce of saltpetre to the whole. Place it over a
moderate fire, clear off the scum perfectly, and let the fish boil
gently until it is done. Drain it well[46] and dish it carefully upon a
very hot napkin with the liver and the roe as a garnish. To these are
usually added tufts of lightly scraped horseradish round the edge. Serve
well-made oyster sauce and plain melted butter with it; or anchovy
sauce, when oysters cannot be procured. The cream sauce of Chapter V.,
is also an appropriate one for this fish.
Footnote 46:
This should be done by setting the fish plate across the kettle for a
minute or two.
Moderate size, 20 to 30 minutes. Large, 1/2 to 3/4 hour.
SLICES OF COD FISH FRIED.
Cut the middle or tail of the fish into slices nearly an inch thick,
season them with salt and white pepper or cayenne, flour them well, and
fry them of a clear equal brown on both sides; drain them on a sieve
before the fire, and serve them on a well-heated napkin, with plenty of
crisped parsley round them. Or, dip them into beaten egg, and then into
fine crumbs mixed with a seasoning of salt and pepper (some cooks add
one of minced herbs also), before they are fried. Send melted butter and
anchovy sauce to table with them. 8 to 12 minutes.
_Obs._—This is a much better way of dressing the thin part of the fish
than boiling it, and as it is generally cheap, it makes thus an
economical, as well as a very good dish: if the slices are lifted from
the frying-pan into a good curried gravy, and left in it by the side of
the fire for a few minutes before they are sent to table, they will be
found excellent.
STEWED COD.
Put into boiling water, salted as usual, about three pounds of fresh cod
fish cut into slices an inch and a half thick, and boil them gently for
five minutes; lift them out, and let them drain. Have ready heated in a
wide stewpan nearly a pint of veal gravy or of very good broth, lay in
the fish, and stew it for five minutes, then add four tablespoonsful of
extremely fine bread-crumbs, and simmer it for three minutes longer.
Stir well into the sauce a large teaspoonful of arrow-root quite free
from lumps, a fourth part as much of mace, something less of cayenne,
and a tablespoonful of essence of anchovies, mixed with a glass of white
wine and a dessertspoonful of lemon juice. Boil the whole for a couple
of minutes, lift out the fish carefully with a slice, pour the sauce
over, and serve it quickly.
Cod fish, 3 lbs.: boiled 5 minutes. Gravy, or strong broth, nearly 1
pint: 5 minutes. Bread-crumbs, 4 tablespoonsful: 3 minutes. Arrow-root,
1 large teaspoonful; mace, 1/4 teaspoonful; less of cayenne; essence of
anchovies, 1 tablespoonful; lemon-juice, 1 dessertspoonful; sherry or
Maidera, 1 wineglassful: 2 minutes.
_Obs._—A dozen or two of oysters, bearded, and added with their strained
liquor to this dish two or three minutes before it is served, will to
many tastes vary it very agreeably.
STEWED COD FISH, IN BROWN SAUCE.
Slice the fish, take off the skin, flour it well, and fry it quickly a
fine brown; lift it out and drain it on the back of a sieve, arrange it
in a clean stewpan, and pour in as much good boiling brown gravy as will
nearly cover it; add from one to two glasses of port wine, or rather
more of claret, a dessertspoonful of Chili vinegar, or the juice of half
a lemon, and some cayenne, with as much salt as may be needed. Stew the
fish very softly until it just begins to break, lift it carefully with a
slice into a very hot dish, stir into the gravy an ounce and a half of
butter smoothly kneaded with a large teaspoonful of flour, and a little
pounded mace, give the sauce a minute’s boil, pour it over the fish, and
serve it immediately. The wine may be omitted, good shin of beef stock
substituted for the gravy, and a teaspoonful of soy, one of essence of
anchovies, and two tablespoonsful of Harvey’s sauce added to flavour it.
TO BOIL SALT FISH.
When very salt and dry, this must be long soaked before it is boiled,
but it is generally supplied by the fishmongers nearly or quite ready to
dress. When it is not so, lay it for a night into a large quantity of
cold water, then let it lie exposed to the air for some time, then again
put it into water, and continue thus until it is well softened. Brush it
very clean, wash it thoroughly, and put it with abundance of cold water
into the fish kettle, place it near the fire and let it heat very slowly
indeed. Keep it just on the point of simmering, without allowing it ever
to _boil_ (which would render it hard), from three quarters of an hour
to a full hour, according to its weight; should it be quite small and
thin, less time will be sufficient for it; but by following these
directions, the fish will be almost as good as if it were fresh. The
scum should be cleared off with great care from the beginning. Egg sauce
and boiled parsneps are the usual accompaniment to salt fish, which
should be dished upon a hot napkin, and which is sometimes also thickly
strewed with chopped eggs.
SALT FISH, À LA MÂITRE D’HÔTEL.
Boil the fish by the foregoing receipt, or take the remains of that
which has been served at table, flake it off clear from the bones, and
strip away every morsel of the skin; then lay it into a very clean
saucepan or stewpan, and pour upon it the sharp _Mâitre d’Hôtel_ sauce
of Chapter IV.; or dissolve gently two or three ounces of butter with
four or five spoonsful of water, and a half-teaspoonful of flour; add
some pepper or cayenne, very little salt, and a dessertspoonful or more
of minced parsley. Heat the fish slowly quite through in either of these
sauces, and toss or stir it until the whole is well mixed; if the second
be used, add the juice of half a lemon, or a small quantity of Chili
vinegar just before it is taken from the fire. The fish thus prepared
may be served in a deep dish, with a border of mashed parsneps or
potatoes.
TO BOIL CODS’ SOUNDS.
Should they be highly salted, soak them for a night, and on the
following day rub off entirely the discoloured skin; wash them well, lay
them into plenty of cold milk and water, and boil them gently from
thirty to forty minutes, or longer should they not be quite tender.
Clear off the scum as it rises with great care, or it will sink and
adhere to the sounds, of which the appearance will then be spoiled.
Drain them well, dish them on a napkin, and send egg sauce and plain
melted butter to table with them.
TO FRY CODS’ SOUNDS IN BATTER.
Boil them as directed above until they are nearly done, then lift them
out, lay them on to a drainer, and let them remain till they are cold;
cut them across in strips of an inch deep, curl them round, dip them
into a good French or English batter, fry them of a fine pale brown,
drain and dry them well, dish them on a hot napkin, and garnish them
with crisped parsley.
TO FRY SOLES.
[In season all the year.]
All fish to fry well must be not only fresh but perfectly free from
moisture, particularly when they are to be dressed with egg and
bread-crumbs, as these will not otherwise adhere to them. Empty, skin,
and wash the soles with extreme nicety, from one to two hours before
they are wanted for table; and after having cleansed and wiped them very
dry both inside and out, replace the roes, fold and press them gently in
a soft clean cloth, and leave them wrapped in it until it is time to fry
them; or suspend them singly upon hooks in a current of cool air, which
is, perhaps, the better method of proceeding when it can be done
conveniently. Cover them equally in every part, first with some beaten
egg, and then with fine dry crumbs of bread, mixed with a _very little_
flour to make them adhere with more certainty: a small teaspoonful will
be sufficient for two large soles. Melt in a large and exceedingly clean
frying pan over a brisk and clear fire, as much very pure-flavoured lard
as will float the fish, and let it be sufficiently hot before they are
laid in to brown them quickly; for if this be neglected it will be
impossible to render them crisp or dry. When the fat ceases to bubble,
throw in a small bit of bread, and if it takes a good colour immediately
the soles may be put in without delay. An experienced cook will know,
without this test, when it is at the proper point; but the learner will
do better to avail herself of it until practice and observation shall
have rendered it unnecessary to her. Before the fish are laid into the
pan, take them by the head and shake the loose crumbs from them. When
they are firm, and of a fine amber-colour on one side, turn them with
care, passing a slice under them and a fork through the heads, and brown
them on the other. Lift them out, and either dry them well on a soft
cloth laid upon a sieve reversed, before the fire, turning them often,
or press them lightly in hot white blotting paper. Dish them on a
drainer covered with a hot napkin and send them to table without delay
with shrimp or anchovy sauce, and plain melted butter.
Very small soles will be done in six minutes, and large ones in about
ten. They may be floured and fried, without being egged and crumbed, but
this is not a very usual mode of serving them.
Small soles, 6 minutes; large, about 10 minutes.
TO BOIL SOLES.
The flesh of a fine fresh sole, when boiled with care, is remarkably
sweet and delicate: if very large it may be dressed and served as
turbot, to which it will be found little inferior in flavour. Empty it,
take out the gills, cut off the fins, and cleanse and wash it with great
nicety, but do not skin it; then either lay it into cold water in which
the usual proportion of salt has been dissolved, and heat it rather
slowly, and then simmer it from five to ten minutes, according to its
size; or boil it in the manner directed in the first pages of this
chapter. Drain it well on the fish-plate as it is lifted out, and dish
it on a napkin, the white side upwards, and serve it quickly with
anchovy, shrimp, or lobster sauce. It may also be sent to table thickly
covered with the Cream Fish Sauce, Caper Fish Sauce, or Lady’s Sauce, of
Chapter VI.; though this is a mode of service less to be recommended, as
the sauce cools more speedily when spread over the surface of the fish:
it is, however, the continental fashion, and will therefore find more
favour with some persons.
Very large sole, 5 to 10 minutes; moderate sized, 4 to 6 minutes.
FILLETS OF SOLES.
The word _fillet_, whether applied to fish, poultry, game, or butcher’s
meat, means simply the flesh of either (or of certain portions of it),
raised clear from the bones in a handsome form, and divided or not, as
the manner in which it is to be served may require. It is an elegant
mode of dressing various kinds of fish, and even those which are not the
most highly esteemed, afford an excellent dish when thus prepared. Soles
to be filletted with advantage should be large; the flesh may then be
divided down the middle of the back, next, separated from the fins, and
with a very sharp knife raised clear from the bones.[47] When thus
prepared, the fillets may be divided, trimmed into a good form, egged,
covered with fine crumbs, fried in the usual way, and served with the
same sauces as the whole fish; or each fillet may be rolled up, in its
entire length, if very small, or after being once divided if large, and
fastened with a slight twine, or a short thin skewer; then egged,
crumbed, and fried in plenty of boiling lard; or merely well floured and
fried from eight to ten minutes. When the fish are not very large, they
are sometimes boned without being parted in the middle, and each side is
rolled from the tail to the head, after being first spread with pounded
shrimps mixed with a third of their volume of butter, a few
bread-crumbs, and a high seasoning of mace and cayenne; or with pounded
lobster mixed with a large portion of the coral, and the same seasoning,
and proportion of butter as the shrimps; then laid into a dish, with the
ingredients directed for the _soles au plat_; well covered with crumbs
of bread and clarified butter, and baked from twelve to sixteen minutes,
or until the crumbs are coloured to a fine brown in a moderate oven.
Footnote 47:
A celebrated French cook gives the following instructions for raising
these fillets:—“them up by running your knife first between the bones
and the flesh, then between the skin and the fillet; by leaning pretty
hard on the table they will come off very neatly.”
The fillets may likewise be cut into small strips or squares of uniform
size, lightly dredged with pepper or cayenne, salt and flour, and fried
in butter over a brisk fire; then well drained, and sauced with a good
_béchamel_, flavoured with a teaspoonful of minced parsley.
SOLES AU PLAT.
Clarify from two to three ounces of fresh butter, and pour it into the
dish in which the fish are to be served; add to it a little salt, some
cayenne, a teaspoonful of essence of anchovies, and from one to two
glasses of sherry, or of any other dry white wine; lay in a couple of
fine soles which have been well cleaned and wiped very dry, strew over
them a thick layer of fine bread-crumbs, moisten them with clarified
butter, set the dish into a moderate oven, and bake the fish for a
quarter of an hour. A layer of shrimps placed between the soles is a
great improvement; and we would also recommend a little lemon-juice to
be mixed with the sauce.
Baked, 15 minutes.
_Obs._—The soles are, we think, better without the wine in this receipt.
They require but a small portion of liquid, which might be supplied by a
little additional butter, a spoonful of water or pale gravy, the
lemon-juice, and store-sauce. Minced parsley may be mixed with the
bread-crumbs when it is liked.
BAKED SOLES.
(_A simple but excellent Receipt._)
Fresh large soles, dressed in the following manner, are remarkably
tender and delicate eating; much more so than those which are fried.
After the fish has been skinned and cleansed in the usual way, wipe it
dry, and let it remain for an hour or more, if time will permit, closely
folded in a clean cloth; then mix with a slightly beaten egg about an
ounce of butter, just liquefied but not _heated_ at the mouth of the
oven, or before the fire; brush the fish in every part with this
mixture, and cover it with very fine dry bread-crumbs, seasoned with a
little salt, cayenne, pounded mace, and nutmeg. Pour a teaspoonful or
two of liquid butter into a flat dish which will contain the fish well;
lay it in, sprinkle it with a little more butter, press the bread-crumbs
lightly on it with a broad-bladed knife, and bake it in a moderate oven
for about twenty minutes. If two or more soles are required for table at
the same time, they should be placed separately, quite flat, in a large
dish, or each fish should be laid on a dish by itself. On our first
essay of this receipt, the fish dressed by it (it was baked for
twenty-five minutes in a very slack iron oven) proved infinitely nicer
than one of the same size which was fried, and served with it. The
difference between them was very marked, especially as regarded the
exceeding tenderness of the flesh of that which was baked; its
appearance, however, would have been somewhat improved by a rather
quicker oven. When ready to serve, it should be gently glided on to the
dish in which it is to be sent to table. About three ounces of
bread-crumbs, and two and a half of butter, will be sufficient for a
large pair of soles. They will be more perfectly encrusted with the
bread if dipped into, or sprinkled with it a second time, after the
first coating has been well moistened with the butter.
SOLES STEWED IN CREAM.
Prepare some very fresh middling sized soles with exceeding nicety, put
them into boiling water slightly salted, and simmer them for two minutes
only; lift them out, and let them drain; lay them into a wide stewpan
with as much sweet rich cream as will nearly cover them; add a good
seasoning of pounded mace, cayenne, and salt; stew the fish softly from
six to ten minutes, or until the flesh parts readily from the bones;
dish them, stir the juice of half a lemon to the sauce, pour it over the
soles, and send them immediately to table. Some lemon-rind may be boiled
in the cream, if approved; and a small teaspoonful of arrow-root, very
smoothly mixed with a little milk, may be stirred to the sauce (should
it require thickening) before the lemon-juice is added. Turbot and brill
also may be dressed by this receipt, time proportioned to their size
being of course allowed for them.
Soles, 3 or 4: boiled in water 2 minutes. Cream, 1/2 to whole pint;
salt, mace, cayenne: fish stewed, 6 to 10 minutes. Juice of half a
lemon.
_Obs._—In Cornwall the fish is laid at once into thick clotted cream,
and stewed entirely in it; but this method gives to the sauce, which
ought to be extremely delicate, a coarse fishy flavour which the
previous boil in water prevents.
At Penzance, grey mullet, after being scaled, are divided in the middle,
just covered with cold water, and softly boiled, with the addition of
branches of parsley, pepper and salt, until the flesh of the back parts
easily from the bone; clotted cream, minced parsley, and lemon-juice are
then added to the sauce, and the mullets are dished with the heads and
tails laid even to the thick parts of the back, where the fish were cut
asunder. Hake, too, is there divided at every joint (having previously
been scaled), dipped into egg, then thickly covered with fine
bread-crumbs mixed with plenty of minced parsley, and fried a fine
brown; or, the back-bone being previously taken out, the fish is sliced
into cutlets, and then fried.
TO FRY WHITINGS.
[In full season from Michaelmas to beginning of February.]
Clean, skin, and dry them thoroughly in a cloth, fasten their tails to
their mouths, brush slightly beaten eggs equally over them, and cover
them with the finest bread-crumbs, mixed with a little flour; fry them a
clear golden brown in plenty of boiling lard, drain and dry them well,
dish them on a hot napkin, and serve them with good melted butter, and
the sauce cruets, or with well made shrimp or anchovy sauce. A small
half-teaspoonful of salt should be beaten up with the eggs used in
preparing the whitings: two will be sufficient for half a dozen fish.
5 to 8 minutes, according to their size.
FILLETS OF WHITINGS.
Empty and wash thoroughly, but do not skin the fish. Take off the flesh
on both sides close to the bones, passing the knife from the tail to the
head; divide each side in two, trim the fillets into good shape, and
fold them in a cloth, that the moisture may be well absorbed from them;
dip them into, or draw them through, some beaten egg, then dip them into
fine crumbs mixed with a small portion of flour, and fry them a fine
light brown in lard or clarified butter; drain them well, press them in
white blotting-paper, dish them one over the other in a circle, and send
the usual sauce to table with them. The fillets may also be broiled
after being dipped into eggs seasoned with salt and pepper, then into
crumbs of bread, next into clarified butter, and a second time into the
bread-crumbs (or, to shorten the process, a portion of clarified butter
may be mixed with the eggs at first), and served with good melted
butter, or thickened veal gravy seasoned with cayenne, lemon-juice, and
chopped parsley.
Five minutes will fry the fillets, even when very large rather more time
will be required to broil them.
TO BOIL WHITINGS.
(_French Receipt_)
Having scraped, cleansed, and wiped them, lay them on a fish-plate, and
put them into water at the point of boiling; throw in a handful of salt,
two bay leaves, and plenty of parsley well washed and tied together; let
the fish _just simmer_ from five to ten minutes, and watch them closely
that they may not be overdone. Serve parsley and butter with them, and
use in making it the liquor in which the whitings have been boiled.
Just simmered from 5 to 10 minutes.
BAKED WHITINGS À LA FRANÇAISE.
Proceed with these exactly as with the _soles au plat_ of this chapter;
or, pour a little clarified butter into a deep dish, and strew it rather
thickly with finely-minced mushrooms mixed with a teaspoonful of
parsley, and (when the flavour is liked, and considered appropriate)
with an eschalot or two, or the white part of a few green onions, also
chopped very small. On these place the fish after they have been scaled,
emptied, thoroughly washed, and wiped dry: season them well with salt
and white pepper, or cayenne; sprinkle more of the herbs upon them; pour
gently from one to two glasses of light white wine into the dish, cover
the whitings with a thick layer of fine crumbs of bread, sprinkle these
plentifully with clarified butter, and bake the fish from fifteen to
twenty minutes. Send a cut lemon only to table with them. When the wine
is not liked, a few spoonsful of pale veal gravy can be used instead; or
a larger quantity of clarified butter, with a tablespoonful of water, a
teaspoonful of lemon-pickle and of mushroom catsup, and a few drops of
soy.
15 to 20 minutes.
TO BOIL MACKEREL.
[In full season in May, June, and July; may be had also in early
spring.]
[Illustration:
Mackerel.
]
Open the fish sufficiently to admit of the insides being _perfectly
cleansed_, but not more than is necessary for this purpose; empty them
with care, lay the roes apart, and wash both them and the mackerel
delicately clean. It is customary now to lay these, and the greater
number of other fish as well, into cold water when they are to be
boiled; formerly all were plunged at once into fast-boiling water. For
such as are small and delicate, it should be hot; they should be brought
gently to boil, and simmered until they are done; the scum should be
cleared off as it rises, and the usual proportion of salt stirred into
the water before the mackerel are put in. The roes are commonly replaced
in the fish; but as they sometimes require more boiling than the
mackerel themselves, it is better, when they are very large, to lay them
upon the fish-plate by their sides. From fifteen to twenty minutes will
generally be sufficient to boil a full-sized mackerel some will be done
in less time; but they must be watched and lifted out as soon as the
tails split, and the eyes are starting.
Dish them on a napkin, and send fennel or gooseberry sauce to table with
them, and plain melted butter also.
Small mackerel, 10 to 15 minutes; large, 15 to 20 minutes.
TO BAKE MACKEREL.
After they have been cleaned and well washed, wipe them very dry, fill
the insides with the forcemeat, No. 1 of Chapter VIII., sew them up,
arrange them, with the roes, closely together in a coarse baking-dish,
flour them lightly, strew a little fine salt over, and stick bits of
butter upon them; or pour some equally over them, after having just
dissolved it in a small saucepan. Half an hour in a moderate oven will
bake them. Oyster forcemeat is always appropriate for any kind of fish
which is in season while the oysters are so; but the mackerel are
commonly served, and are very good with that which we have named. Lift
them carefully into a hot dish after they are taken from the oven, and
send melted butter and a cut lemon to table with them.
1/2 hour.
BAKED MACKEREL, OR WHITINGS.
(_Cinderella’s Receipt—good._)
The fish for this receipt should be opened only so much as will permit
of their being emptied and perfectly cleansed. Wash and wipe them dry,
then fold them in a soft cloth, and let them remain in it awhile.
Replace the roes, and put the fish into a baking-dish of suitable size,
with a tablespoonful of wine, a few drops of chili vinegar, a little
salt and cayenne, and about half an ounce of butter, well-blended with a
saltspoonful of flour, for each fish. They must be turned round with the
heads and tails towards each other, that they may lie compactly in the
dish, and the backs should be placed downwards, that the sauce may
surround the thickest part of the flesh. Lay two buttered papers over,
and press them down upon them; set the dish into a gentle oven for
twenty minutes, take off the papers, and send the fish to table in their
sauce.
A few minutes more of time must be allowed for mackerel when it is
large, should the oven be _very_ slow.
Full-sized whitings are _excellent_ thus dressed if carefully managed,
and many eaters would infinitely prefer mackerel so prepared, to boiled
ones. The writer has port-wine always used for the sauce, to which a
rather full seasoning of chili vinegar, cayenne, and pounded mace, is
added; but sherry, Bucellas, or any other dry wine, can be used instead;
and the various condiments added to it, can be varied to the taste. This
receipt is a very convenient one, as it is prepared with little trouble,
and a stove-oven, if the heat be properly moderated, will answer for the
baking. It is an advantage to take off the heads of the fish before they
are dressed, and they may then be entirely emptied without being opened.
When preferred so, they can be re-dished for table, and the sauce poured
over them.
_Obs._—The dish in which they are baked, should be buttered before they
are laid in.
FRIED MACKEREL.
(_Common French Receipt._)
After the fish have been emptied and washed extremely clean, cut off the
heads and tails, split the bodies quite open, and take out the backbones
(we recommend in preference that the flesh should be taken off the bones
as in the following receipt), wipe the mackerel very dry, dust fine salt
and pepper (or cayenne) over them, flour them well, fry them a fine
brown in boiling lard, drain them thoroughly, and serve them with the
following sauce:—Dissolve in a small saucepan an ounce and a half of
butter smoothly mixed with a teaspoonful of flour, some salt, pepper, or
cayenne; shake these over a gentle fire until they are lightly coloured,
then add by slow degrees nearly half a pint of good broth or gravy, and
the juice of one large lemon; boil the sauce for a couple of minutes,
and serve it very hot. Or, instead of this, add a large teaspoonful of
strong made mustard, and a dessertspoonful of chili vinegar, to some
thick melted butter, and serve it with the fish. A spoonful of Harvey’s
sauce or of mushroom catsup can be mixed with this last at pleasure.
FILLETS OF MACKEREL.
(_Fried or Broiled._)
Take off the flesh quite whole on either side, from three fine mackerel,
which have been opened and properly cleaned; let it be entirely free
from bone, dry it well in a cloth, then divide each part in two, and dip
them into the beaten yolks of a couple of eggs, seasoned with salt and
white pepper, or cayenne; cover them equally with fine dry crumbs of
bread, and fry them like soles; or dip them into clarified butter, and
then again into the crumbs, and broil them over a very clear fire of a
fine brown. Dish them in a circle one over the other, and send them to
table with the _Mâitre d’Hôtel_ sauce of Chapter V., or with the one
which follows it. The French pour the sauce into the centre of the dish;
but for broiled fillets this is not so well, we think, as serving it in
a tureen. The roes of the fish, after being well washed and soaked, may
be dressed with them, or they may be made into patties. Minced parsley
can be mixed with the bread-crumbs when it is liked.
BOILED FILLETS OF MACKEREL.
After having taken off and divided the flesh of the fish, as above,
place it flat in one layer in a wide stewpan or saucepan, and just cover
the fillets with cold water; throw in a teaspoonful of salt, and two or
three small sprigs of parsley; bring the mackerel slowly to a boil,
clear off the scum with care, and after two or three minutes of slow
simmering try the fillets with a fork; if the thick part divides with a
touch, they are done. Lift them out cautiously with a slice; drain, and
serve them very hot with good parsley and butter; or strip off the skin
quickly, and pour a _Mâitre d’Hôtel_ sauce over them.
MACKEREL BROILED WHOLE.
(_An excellent Receipt._)
Empty and cleanse perfectly a fine and very fresh mackerel, but without
opening it more than is needful; dry it well, either in a cloth or by
hanging it in a cool air until it is stiff; make with a sharp knife a
deep incision the whole length of the fish on either side of the back
bone, and about half an inch from it, and with a feather put in a little
cayenne and fine salt, mixed with a few drops of good salad oil or
clarified butter. Lay the mackerel over a moderate fire upon a
well-heated gridiron which has been rubbed with suet; loosen it gently
should it stick, which it will do unless often moved; and when it is
equally done on both sides, turn the back to the fire. About half an
hour will broil it well. If a sheet of thickly-buttered writing-paper be
folded round it, and just twisted at the ends before it is laid on the
gridiron, it will be finer eating than if exposed to the fire; but
sometimes when this is done, the skin will adhere to the paper, and be
drawn off with it, which injures its appearance. A cold _Mâitre d’Hôtel_
sauce (see Chapter V.), may be put into the back before it is sent to
table. This is one of the very best modes of dressing a mackerel, which
in flavour is quite a different fish when thus prepared to one which is
simply boiled. A drop of oil is sometimes passed over the skin to
prevent its sticking to the iron. It may be laid to the fire after
having been merely cut as we have directed, when it is preferred so.
30 minutes; 25 if _small_.
MACKEREL STEWED WITH WINE.
(_Very good._)
Work very smoothly together a large teaspoonful of flour with two ounces
of butter, put them into a stewpan, and stir or shake them round over
the fire until the butter is dissolved; add a quarter of a teaspoonful
of mace, twice as much salt, and some cayenne; pour in by slow degrees
three glasses of claret; and when the sauce boils, lay in a couple of
fine mackerel well cleaned, and wiped quite dry; stew them very softly
from fifteen to twenty minutes, and turn them when half done; lift them
out, and dish them carefully; stir a teaspoonful of made mustard to the
sauce, give it a boil, and pour it over the fish. When more convenient,
substitute port wine and a little lemon-juice, for the claret.
Mackerel, 2; flour, 1 teaspoonful; butter, 2 oz.; seasoning of salt,
mace, and cayenne; claret, 3 wineglassesful; made mustard, 1
teaspoonful: 15 to 20 minutes.
FILLETS OF MACKEREL STEWED IN WINE.
(_Excellent._)
Raise the flesh entire from the bones on either side of the mackerel,
and divide it once, if the fish be small, but cut the whole into six
parts of equal size should they be large. Mix with flour, and dissolve
the butter as in the preceding receipt; and when it has simmered for a
minute, throw in the spice, a little salt, and the thinly pared rind of
half a small fresh lemon, lay in the fillets of fish, shake them over a
gentle fire from four to five minutes, and turn them once in the time;
then pour to them in small portions a couple of large wineglassesful of
port wine, a tablespoonful of Harvey’s sauce, a teaspoonful of soy, and
one of lemon-juice; stew the mackerel very softly until the thinner
parts begin to break, lift them out with care, dish and serve them in
their sauce as hot as possible. We can recommend the dish to our readers
as a very excellent one. A garnish of fried sippets can be placed round
the fish at will. A teaspoonful of made mustard should be stirred to the
sauce before it is poured over the fish.
Fillets of mackerel, 2; butter, 2 oz.; flour, 1 teaspoonful; rind of 1/2
lemon; salt, cayenne, pounded mace: 2 minutes. Fish, 4 to 5 minutes.
Port wine, two large glassesful; Harvey’s sauce, 1 tablespoonful; soy
and lemon-juice each, 1 teaspoonful: 4 to 6 minutes. Mustard, 1
teaspoonful.
_Obs._—Trout may be dressed by this receipt.
TO BOIL HADDOCKS.
In the best season in October, November, and December.
[Illustration:
Haddock.
]
Scrape the outsides very clean, open the fish, empty them, wash the
insides thoroughly, take out the gillet, curl the haddocks round, fasten
the tails to the mouths, arrange them on a fish-plate, and lay them into
hot water salted as for mackerel. Take off all the scum, and simmer them
from seven to ten minutes or longer, according to their size, which, as
we have said in the directions for “the best mode of cooking various
kind of fish,” at the commencement of this chapter, varies greatly, as
they are sometimes very large; they must then be brought more slowly to
boil, and more time must be allowed for them. Send them very hot to
table, with a tureen of melted butter, and one of anchovy sauce.
7 to 10 minutes.
_Obs._—In Scotland haddocks are skinned before they are boiled, and the
heads are taken off; but we see no advantage in this mode of dressing
them. Whitings, fresh herrings, and codlings, may all be dressed by this
receipt, the time only being varied according to the size of the fish.
BAKED HADDOCKS
After they have been cleaned, dry them thoroughly, then bake them, as
directed in the common receipt for pike, or fill them with oyster
forcemeat, or with No. 1 of Chapter VIII., if more convenient, and
proceed as for baked mackerel.
20 to 30 minutes; longer if very large.
TO FRY HADDOCKS
Follow the directions given for fillets of whitings; or, should a more
simple method be preferred, clean and dry the fish well, cut off the
heads and tails, take out the backbones, cut each fish in three, egg and
crumb them, fry them in boiling lard a fine golden brown, and serve
them, well drained and dried, with the same sauces as boiled haddocks.
TO DRESS FINNAN HADDOCKS.
These are slightly salted and dried. They are excellent eating, if
gently heated through upon the gridiron without being hardened; and are
served usually at the breakfast or supper table; a feather dipped in oil
may be passed over them before they are laid to the fire.
TO BOIL GURNARDS.
(_With directions for dressing them in other ways._)
[Illustration:
Gurnard.
]
It is more usual to fill gurnards with forcemeat, and to bake them, or
to have the flesh raised from the bones and dressed in fillets, than to
serve them simply boiled; they may, however, be cooked in any of the
modes directed for mackerel,[48] rather more time being allowed for
them, as they are much firmer-fleshed, thicker in the bodies, and
generally of larger size altogether. Cut off all the fins, take out the
gills, and empty and cleanse them like other fish, washing the insides
well; put them into hot water ready salted and skimmed, and boil them
gently from twenty minutes to half an hour; serve them with anchovy
sauce, or with parsley and butter rendered acid with chili vinegar,
lemon-juice, or caper-pickle.
Footnote 48:
Whitings or haddocks.
FRESH HERRINGS.
(_Farleigh Receipt._)
In season from May to October.
Scale and clean the fish with the utmost nicety, split them quite open,
and wash the insides with particular care; dry them well in a cloth,
take off the heads and tails, and remove the backbones; rub the insides
with pepper, salt, and a little pounded mace; stick small bits of butter
on them, and skewer two of the fish together as flat as possible, with
the skin of both outside; flour, and broil or fry them of a fine brown,
and serve them with melted butter mixed with a teaspoonful or more of
mustard, some salt, and a little vinegar or lemon-juice.
To broil from 20 to 25 minutes; to fry about 10 minutes.
TO DRESS THE SEA BREAM.
[Illustration:
Sea Bream.
]
The sea-bream, which is common in many of our markets, is not considered
a fish of first-rate quality; but if well broiled or baked, it will
afford a good, and generally a _cheap_, dish of excellent appearance,
the bream being of handsome size and form. Open and cleanse it
perfectly, but do not remove the scales; fold it in a dry cloth to
absorb the moisture which hangs about it; lay it over a gentle fire, and
broil it slowly, that the heat may gradually penetrate the flesh, which
is thick. Should any cracks appear on the surface, dredge a little flour
upon them. If of ordinary weight, the bream will require quite half an
hour’s broiling; it should be turned, of course, when partially done.
Send plain melted butter and anchovy sauce to table with it. In carving
it, remove the skin and scales, and serve only the flesh which lies
beneath them, and which will be very white and succulent. A more usual
and less troublesome mode of dressing the bream is to season the inside
slightly with salt and pepper or cayenne, to dust a little more salt on
the outside, spread a few bits of butter upon it, and send it to a
gentle oven. It is sometimes filled with common veal-stuffing, and then
requires to be rather longer baked; and it is often merely wrapped in a
buttered paper, and placed in a moderate oven for twenty-five or thirty
minutes.
TO BOIL PLAICE OR FLOUNDERS.
Plaice in season from May to January;
flounders in September, October, and November.
[Illustration:
Plaice.
]