Miss Leslie's New Cookery Book Part 3

If the bread is done before the dinner hour, you must keep the soup still longer in the oven.

Do not use _cold_ meat for this or any other soup, unless you are very poor.

FISH.

TO CLEAN FISH.--This must always be done with the greatest care and nicety. If sent to table imperfectly cleaned, they are disgraceful to the cook, and disgusting to the sight and taste. Handle the fish lightly; not roughly so as to bruise it. Wash it well, but do not leave it in the water longer than is needful. It will lose its flavor, and become insipid, if soaked. To scale it, lay the fish flat upon one side, holding it firmly in the left hand, and with the right taking off the scales by means of a knife. When both sides are done, pour sufficient cold water over it to float off all the loose scales that may have escaped your notice. It is best to pump on it. Then proceed to open and empty the fish. Be sure that not the smallest particle of the entrails is left in. Sc.r.a.pe all carefully from the backbone. Wash out all the blood from the inside. A dexterous cook can draw a fish without splitting it entirely down, all the way from head to tail. Smelts and other small fish are drawn or emptied at the gills.

All fish should be cleaned or drawn as soon as they are brought in, and then kept on ice, till the moment for cooking.

TO BOIL FISH.--No fish can be fit to eat unless the eyes are prominent and lively, the gills very red, and the body firm and stiff, springing back immediately when bent round to try them. Every scale must be carefully sc.r.a.ped off, and the entrails entirely extracted; not the smallest portion being carelessly left sticking to the backbone.

Previous to cooking, fish of every kind should be laid in cold water, and the blood thoroughly washed from the inside. Few fish are not the better for being put on to boil in cold water, heating gradually with it till it comes to a boil. If you put it on in boiling water, the outside becomes boiling hot too soon; and is apt to break and come off in flakes, while the inside still remains hard and underdone: halibut, salmon, cod, and other large thick fish must be boiled slowly and thoroughly throughout, taking nearly as long as meat. Always put salt into the water at the commencement, and a little vinegar towards the last. In every kitchen should be a large oval kettle purposely for boiling fish. This kettle has a movable strainer inside. The fish lies on the strainer. To try if it is done, run a thin sharp knife in it, till it reaches the backbone; and see if the flesh will loosen or separate easily. If it adheres to the bone it requires more boiling.

When quite done, leave it no longer in the kettle, or it will lose its flavor and get a woolly look. Take out the strainer with the fish upon it. Drain off the water through the strainer, cover the fish with a folded napkin or fine towel, doubled thick; transfer it to a heated dish, and keep it warm and dry till it goes to table, directly after the soup. In the mean time prepare the sauce to be served up along with the fish.

FRYING FISH.--Fish should be fried in _very good_ fresh b.u.t.ter, or nice beef drippings; or else in lard, which last, is the most usual method. A large allowance of lard should be put into the pan, and held over a clear fire, till it becomes so hot as to boil fast in the pan. Till the lard hisses and bubbles do not put in the fish. They must first be dried separately in a clean cloth, and then scored on the back in deep incisions, or gashes, and slightly dredged with flour. Unless the lard is amply sufficient in quant.i.ty to cover the fish well, and bear them up towards the surface, they will sink heavily to the bottom of the pan, and perhaps stick there and burn. Also, if there is not fat enough, the fish will absorb the whole of what there is, and become dark-colored and greasy.

BAKED FISH.--This is a dish for company. You may bake in the same manner a shad, a fresh codfish, a sheep's head, a white fish, or a blue fish, or a pair of large black fish. Trout also are considered fish for baking. Cut off the head, and split the fish nearly down to the tail.

For a stuffing, cut two slices of nice light wheat bread, of shape and size to fit easily into the inside of the fish, and spread them thickly with very new fresh b.u.t.ter. Season them with cayenne and powdered mace, and moisten them with port wine or sherry. Add the juice and yellow rind of a lemon, grated; and sufficient powdered white sugar to take off the extreme acid of the last. Fill the body of the fish with this stuffing, kept in by tying round the fish, carefully, a white cotton cord, or tape, so as to confine it in several places. Lay bits of fresh b.u.t.ter over the outside, at equal distances. Place the fish on a trivet, in a bake pan, and pour round it a pint of wine and water mixed. Baste it with this frequently while baking. It will require at least an hour in a quick oven. If the basting does not leave sufficient gravy, add half a pint more of wine mixed with a little hot water.

When you have taken up the fish, keep it hot while you are finis.h.i.+ng the gravy, which you should thicken and enrich by stirring in smoothly a piece of b.u.t.ter mixed slightly into a paste with flour, and seasoned with grated nutmeg. Serve up the gravy in a sauce-boat, and lay slices of lemon along the back of the fish, having, of course, removed the string that was wound around it to confine the stuffing. Send to table with the baked fish, a dish of potatos mashed with milk and b.u.t.ter, and browned on the surface with a salamander, or a red hot shovel. Always remove the seeds of lemon slices. Fresh mackerel may be baked thus.

Fish may be baked plainly, with a stuffing of sweet marjoram, minced sage, and onion, (previously boiled and drained,) a little b.u.t.ter, or finely chopped beef suet, and plenty of grated bread crumbs, seasoned with a little black pepper. Or instead of crumbs you may put in slices of bread and b.u.t.ter soaked in milk, and secured as above from falling out while the fish is baking.

STEWED FISH.--Take any nice fresh fish of moderate size, and when it is drawn and washed, cut it into three or four pieces, and put them into a stew-pan with amply sufficient hot water to keep them from burning.

Season them with a little salt and cayenne. After it has simmered steadily for half an hour, and been skimmed, have ready a quarter of a pound of fresh b.u.t.ter, mixed into a smooth paste with a heaped table-spoonful of flour. Add this to the stew, with a bunch of sweet marjoram chopped fine, and a sprig of chopped parsley. If approved, add a small onion pared and sliced very thin. Cover it closely, and let it stew another half hour. Then send it to table. This is a family dish.

Any fresh fish may be stewed thus.

SPICED FISH.--Cold fish that has been left at dinner is very nice to put away for the supper table. It should be fresh salmon, fresh cod, rock-fish, halibut, or the remains of any other large fine fish. Take out the back bone, and cut the flesh into moderate sized pieces. Lay it in a deep dish that has a cover. Season the fish with cayenne pepper, a little salt, some grated nutmeg, and some blades of mace; also some whole black pepper-corns, and pour over it plenty of good cider vinegar.

Tarragon vinegar will be an improvement. Cover it closely, and set it in a cold place till wanted. If in spring or summer, set it in ice.

We do not recommend cloves or allspice. The taste of those coa.r.s.e spices is so overpowering, (and to many persons so unpleasant,) that they are now nearly out of use at good tables.

Nutmeg, mace and ginger, will be found much better, and with cinnamon occasionally, are sufficient for all spice seasonings. Nevertheless, for those who like them, a few cloves will relieve the insipidity of halibut.

FISH CAKES.--Take codfish (either fresh or salt) that has been boiled the day before. Carefully remove the bones, and mince the flesh. Mix with it a quant.i.ty of warm mashed potatos, (mashed with b.u.t.ter and milk) in the proportion of one third codfish, and two thirds mashed potatos.

Add sufficient beaten egg to make the whole into a smooth paste. Season it with cayenne; and, if the mixture seems dry, moisten and enrich it with a little b.u.t.ter. Make it into cakes about an inch thick, and as large round as the top of a common sized tea-cup. Or into round b.a.l.l.s.

Sprinkle them well with flour.

Fry them in lard, or beef-drippings. When one side is done turn them over. Drain them, and send them to the breakfast table. If approved, you may add to the mixture two or three onions boiled and minced. Any large cold fish may be dressed in this manner for next morning's breakfast.

ROCK-FISH.--Rock-fish are generally plain boiled, (with the heads and tails left on,) and they are eaten with egg sauce, (hard boiled eggs chopped, and mixed with melted or drawn b.u.t.ter,) seasoned with a little cayenne. Put on the side of your plate, any nice fish sauce from the castors. Some serve up rock-fish with hard boiled eggs, cut into halves, and laid closely in a row along the back of the fish; half an egg being helped to each person. Cold b.u.t.ter is then eaten with it. We think this a very nice way.

Blue fish, white fish, and black fish, may be drest in this manner.

Also, sea-ba.s.s.

BLACK FISH AND SEA-Ba.s.s--Are all boiled in the same manner, having first carefully scaled, and drawn, and well washed them. In drawing fish take care that the whole of the inside is nicely sc.r.a.ped from the back-bone, all along. When ready, dredge a clean soft cloth with flour, wrap the fish in it; lay it on the strainer of a fish-kettle, and put it in plenty of water, into which has been thrown a small table-spoonful of salt. Keep it steadily boiling near half an hour. Take it carefully out of the cloth, drain it on the strainer, and keep it warm. Send to table with it egg-sauce.

Eat mashed potatos with it.

_Frying._--To fry the above fish,--cut them in two or three pieces; wash them and wipe them dry; score them with deep cuts, and season with cayenne and a little salt--dredge them with flour, and fry them brown in a pan nearly full of boiling lard.

Any fish may be fried in this manner.

FRESH COD.--A fine codfish should be very thick about the neck; the eyes lively; the gills red; and the flesh firm and white. If flabby, it is not good. It is in season from October till May. After scaling, emptying, was.h.i.+ng, and drying, cover it, and let it rest for an hour.

Then put it on in a fish-kettle of _cold_ water, (hard water if you can procure it,) throw in a small handful of salt, and let the cod heat gradually, skimming it well. Boil it gently, but steadily, till thoroughly done. Then, take it out of the kettle, drain it, and keep it warm till ready to go to table. No fish should be allowed to remain in the water after the boiling is quite over. Serve it up with oyster or lobster sauce.

You may broil fresh cod in steaks, or fry it in cutlets. For frying fish, you may use beef or veal drippings, with the fat skimmed off carefully. Mutton fat (which is tallow) is unfit for all cookery.

TROUT.--Trout is considered a very nice fish, and is in season in the summer. When fresh it is a fine flesh color, and its spots are very bright. To fry trout, dry them in a cloth. Score them deeply, and touch each incision or cut with a little cayenne. Dredge them with flour.

Grate some bread-crumbs very fine, and in another pan beat some eggs very light and thick. Dip each fish twice in the egg, and twice in the crumbs, and fry them in plenty of boiling lard, or in a mixture of lard and fresh b.u.t.ter. When done, drain them, and send them to table with a dish of cuc.u.mbers sliced and dressed in the usual way, with vinegar, pepper and salt.

If boiled, serve them up with egg sauce. If broiled, eat them with cold b.u.t.ter and cayenne.

STEWED TROUT.--This is a dish for company. Mix together as much cold water and sweet white wine, in equal quant.i.ties, as will well cover the fish. When done, take them out of the stew pan, drain them, and keep them hot while you prepare the gravy. For this, thicken the liquid with a piece of fresh b.u.t.ter divided into four, each bit rolled in flour; and add two or more well-beaten eggs, and season with powdered mace and nutmeg. Mix all this together, give it one boil up, and pour it over the trout, after they are dished for table.

BAKED TROUT.--Having cleaned the trout, wrap each fish in a very thin slice of bacon, sprinkled with minced sweet marjoram, and seasoned with cayenne and mace. Inclose each fish in a white paper, cut larger than to fit exactly. Fasten the papers with strings or pins, to be removed before the fish goes to table. Lay the trout in a square tin pan, and bake them in the papers, which must be taken off when the fish are done; but serve them up with the bacon round them or not, as you please.

SALT COD.--The afternoon before the fish is to be eaten, put it to soak in plenty of cold water. Cover it, and let it stand in a warm place all night. In the morning pour off that water, wash the fish clean, and scrub the outside with a brush. Put it into a kettle with cold water sufficient to cover it well; and let it boil fast till near dinner time, skimming it well. About half an hour before dinner, pour off this boiling water, and subst.i.tute a sufficiency of cold. In this last water give the fish one boil up. Send it to table with egg sauce, made with plenty of b.u.t.ter, and hard-boiled eggs cut in half, and laid closely along the back of the fish, to be helped with it. Accompany the cod with a plate of sliced beets drest with vinegar.

Next morning you may take what is left, and having removed all the bone, mince the fish, and mix it with an equal quant.i.ty of mashed potatos, adding some b.u.t.ter, pepper, and raw egg. Make the whole into b.a.l.l.s or flat cakes, and fry them in drippings or lard. They are good at breakfast. On every one put a small spot of pepper.

FRIED SMELTS.--The smelt is a very nice little fish, which has a peculiarly sweet and delicate flavor of its own, that requires, to be tasted in perfection, no other cooking than plain broiling or frying in fresh lard. Do not wash them, but wipe them dry in a clean cloth; having opened and drawn them, (they should be drawn through the gills,) and cut off the heads and tails, dredge them with flour. The frying-pan must be more than two-thirds full of boiling lard; boiling hard when the smelts are put in, so as to float them on the surface. If there is not sufficient lard, or if it is not boiling, the fish will sink and be dark colored, and greasy. About ten minutes are sufficient for the small ones, and fifteen for those of a larger size. When done, drain off the lard and send them to the breakfast table on a hot dish.

If you prefer retaining the heads and tails, dish them, alternately, with the heads up and tails down.

FRIED CAT-FISH.--The best cat-fish are the small ones. If too large, they are generally coa.r.s.e and strong. They must be cooked quite fresh; if possible, directly out of the water. They are very popular at fis.h.i.+ng parties. Wash and clean them, cutting off their heads and tails, and removing the upper part of the back-bone, near the shoulders. Score them along the back, with deep gashes or incisions. Dredge them with flour, and fry them in plenty of lard, boiling fast when the cat-fish are put into the pan. Or, you may fry them in the drippings or gravy saved from roast beef, or veal. They are very nice dipped in a batter of beaten egg and grated bread-crumbs, or they may be done in a plain, though not so nice a way, with indian meal instead of bread-crumbs. Drain off the lard before you dish them. Touch each incision or cut, _very slightly_, with a little cayenne before they go to table.

Cat-fish are a breakfast dish, and are also eaten at supper. Porgie and tutaug are cooked in this manner.

Any fish may be fried as above, when not split open.