FISH.
Codfish is about the best fish that comes to our market, but it is so cheap and plentiful that we do not appreciate it quite as much as we would if the price was twenty-five cents a pound and its season to last not over two months. Trout and all delicate fish lose their flavor long before they reach New York, and they should be eaten within half an hour after they are caught; while the cod improves in flavor if kept for a day or two with the addition of a little salt to give it firmness.
The “shoulder part” pleases my palate the most. Have you ever tried a codfish steak for breakfast, dredged in corn meal and fried in salt pork-fat? It is splendid. A rasher of bacon served with it does no harm.
In broiling cod, haddock, bass, etc., always tie them up in a bag or towel, and lay the fish in the fish-pan, adding a little salt, a pint of Rhine wine, or cupful of vinegar, and cover the fish with cold water, allowing it to boil gently till done. Drawn-butter sauce with boiled fish is easy to make and pleases almost everybody.
Baked Cod.—When purchasing a four-pound cod ask your fish-dealer to send you three or four “codfish-heads,” and as soon as the basket comes into the house rub a little salt on the fish, chop the heads into six pieces each, and sprinkle a little salt over them. Place them in the centre of the baking-pan (to be used as supports for the fish), with two ounces of butter, one carrot, a turnip, a potato, and one onion cut into slices, two blades of mace, a teaspoonful white pepper, one tablespoonful celery-seed, six cloves, and a cupful of red wine. Set the pan in the oven while you prepare the cod.
Soak in cold water until soft a sufficiency of bread to fill the fish; drain off the water and pound the bread to a paste; mix with it two tablespoonfuls of melted butter, two raw eggs, a tablespoonful Worcestershire sauce, with salt and pepper to taste. Put this stuffing inside the fish and sew it up; place the cod in the pan with two or three pieces of butter on the upper side of the fish, and baste it frequently; when it is cooked lay the fish on a hot platter, and garnish with fried oysters, if convenient. Add two tablespoonfuls of Barlow’s prepared flour to the pan, a wineglass of sherry; mix, and strain the gravy into a sauce-boat.
Salt Codfish with Cream.—Soak one pound and a half of salt codfish over-night. Next morning set the fish to simmer for about two hours; drain off the water and strip the fish into shreds; place it in a saucepan with a quart of milk and two ounces of butter; mix a tablespoonful of flour with two tablespoonfuls of cold milk, and add to the fish. Let the whole come to a boil, remove the dish from the fire, beat up one egg to a froth, add it to the fish, stir, and serve immediately.
Salt Mackerel Broiled.—Soak a No. 2 chicken mackerel in cold water over-night; pour off the water and let the fish stand in milk enough to cover it for one hour before broiling; baste the fish with butter, and broil. When done plunge the fish into hot water for one minute, and send to table with a dish of melted butter, the juice of one lemon, and a teaspoonful of chopped parsley mixed together.
Broiled Lobster (for breakfast).—Cut the tail part of a lobster in two, rub a little sweet oil over the meat, and broil. When done brush a little butter over it, with the juice of half a lemon and just the suspicion of cayenne. Place the meat back into the shell, and send to table with a dish of broiled tomatoes and a fresh-baked potato.
Lobster en Brochette.—Cut up the tail of a lobster into square pieces; take a few thin slices of bacon and cut into lengths to match the pieces of lobster; place them on a skewer alternately, and broil; baste as in “broiled lobster,” and send to table on a bed of water-cress.
Baked Shad.—Make a dressing of bread-crumbs, butter, pepper, and salt worked to a paste; fill the shad with the mixture, sew it up, and place it lengthwise in a baking-pan with a little water and an ounce of butter. Fill the space between the fish and the sides of the pan with slices of raw potatoes one-fourth of an inch thick, and serve fish and potatoes together. Add a spoonful of Barlow’s prepared flour to the gravy, and serve.
“Tenderloin” Trout.—Take a large catfish and cut it up into pieces two inches in length and one inch in thickness. Beat up three eggs with a little salt and pepper and a teaspoonful of Worcestershire; dip the fish in the egg-batter, and roll in corn meal or bread-crumbs. Fry a deep brown, garnish with lemon, parsley, or celery-tops, and send to table with a cucumber salad.
Fricasseed Eels.—Cut up three pounds of eels into pieces of three inches in length; put them into a stew-pan, and cover them with Rhine wine (or two-thirds water and one-third vinegar); add fifteen oysters, two pieces of lemon, a bouquet of herbs, one onion quartered, six cloves, three stalks celery, a pinch of cayenne, pepper and salt to taste. Stew the eels one hour; remove them from the dish; strain the liquor. Put it back into the stew-pan with a gill of cream and an ounce of butter rolled in flour; simmer gently a few minutes, pour over the fish, and serve with a toasted milk cracker.
Soyer’s Boiled Salmon.—I always prefer dressing this fish in slices from an inch to two inches in thickness, boiling it in plenty of salt and water twenty minutes. The whole fish may be boiled, but it requires longer boiling. Salmon eats firmer by not putting it into water until it is boiling. Dress the fish upon a napkin and serve with lobster sauce, or plain melted butter with a few sprigs of parsley boiled a few minutes in it.
I generally boil a salmon whole, or head and shoulders in one piece, with salt, and cover the fish with equal parts of warm water and Rhine wine, two or three bay-leaves, a few cloves, etc. When done I use the water in making sauce by reducing one-half, adding butter rolled in flour to thicken, pinch of cayenne, and the juice of one lemon.
Eel Patties.—Take three medium-sized eels and cut them up into inch pieces. Put them in a stew-pan, add salt, and cover them with cold water. When the water comes to a boil take them off the fire, wash them in cold water, scrape off any fat that may adhere, return them to the stew-pan with just enough hot water to cover them, and add a blade of mace, a bay-leaf, a few whole peppers, a few sprigs of parsley, and one lemon cut into slices. Stew gently until the fish will separate from the bone; remove the fish from the broth, pick it into small pieces, and set them aside; reduce the broth a little, strain, and thicken with flour and butter. Return the fish to the broth, simmer a moment, fill your patties and serve; make patty-shells as directed for oyster patties.
Drawn-Butter Sauce.—Season a cupful of flour with salt, pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg, mix it with some water into a paste, and work in a piece of butter about the size of an egg; put the pan over the fire and boil for twenty minutes; then take it off, add some fresh butter in small portions at a time, stirring continually to prevent the butter from rising to the top. Add the juice of half a lemon before serving.
Maitre d’Hotel Butter.—Mix four ounces of butter with a heaping tablespoonful of chopped parsley, salt and pepper, and the juice of three lemons; serve with boiled fish, etc.
Anchovy Sauce.—An easy way of making anchovy sauce is to stir two or three teaspoonfuls of prepared essence or paste of anchovy (which may be bought at your grocer’s) into a pint of melted butter; let the sauce boil a few minutes, and flavor with lemon-juice.
Lobster Sauce.—Break the shell of the lobster into small pieces. Pour over them one pint of water or veal stock and a pinch of salt; simmer gently until the liquid is reduced one-half. Mix two ounces of butter with an ounce of flour, strain the liquid upon it, and stir all over the fire until the mixture thickens; do not let it boil. Add two tablespoonfuls of the lobster meat, the juice of half a lemon, and serve.
The spawn and coral mixed with double the quantity of butter, a little cayenne, and pounded in a mortar to a paste, then pressed through a hair sieve, is called lobster-butter; a spoonful of it added to the sauce will improve it; the rest of the butter may be used in garnishing and decorating cold salmon, etc.
Caper Sauce.—Chop up two tablespoonfuls of capers and add them to half a pint of melted butter, with the piece of one lemon, a teaspoonful Worcestershire sauce, and a pinch of cayenne; put on the fire and simmer a few minutes; mix a teaspoonful of flour with a very little cold water, and add to the sauce.
Celery Sauce.—Put two ounces of butter into a saucepan, melt it, and add two heads of celery cut up into inch pieces; stir the celery in the pan until it is quite tender; add salt and pepper, with a little mace. Mix a tablespoonful of flour in a cupful of stock and simmer half an hour. A cupful of cream may be used instead of the stock.
Oyster Sauce.—Blanch one dozen oysters in their own liquor; then take the oysters out and add two blades of mace, an ounce of melted butter, and a cupful of thickened cream; return the oysters to the sauce, let them come to a boil, and serve; salt to taste.
Oyster Sauce, No. 2.—Take a dozen large oysters and boil them in their own liquor two minutes; remove them from the liquid, and quarter them. Mix an ounce of butter and an ounce of flour in a stew-pan, add the oyster liquor, a pinch of cayenne or two drops tobasco pepper-sauce, with a little nutmeg and half a pint of cream. Stir the whole gently over the fire until the sauce is smooth and thick. Add the pieces of oysters, simmer a moment longer, and serve.
Egg Sauce.—Put two ounces of butter into a saucepan with a dessert-spoonful of flour and a very little water; simmer gently. When ready to boil take the saucepan from the fire and stir in two ounces more of butter and three cold hard-boiled eggs cut up small; sprinkle a little salt on the egg.
Dutch Sauce.—Blend together two ounces of butter and a teaspoonful of flour; put it into a stew-pan with equal quantities of stock and vinegar (from the bottle containing imported mixed pickles), say a wineglassful of each; stir for two minutes, and add the beaten yolks of two eggs, keeping up the stirring till the mixture thickens; if you let it boil it will curdle. Add the juice of half a lemon before serving.
Gravy for Baked Fish.—Brown a sliced onion in a little butter and add gradually a pint of stock; thicken with a tablespoonful of Barlow’s prepared flour, and let the mixture simmer with a bunch of parsley nearly half an hour; strain the gravy and add salt and a teaspoonful walnut-catsup.