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, maybe 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, \ to whole
pint✪ Soles Stewed in Cream; 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 pre-
vious 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 ad-
dition 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 blitter, and the sauce cruets, or with well, made shrimp or an-
G8
MODERN COOKERY.
[CHAP. II.
cliovy 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✪ To Fry Whitings.
5 to 8 minutes, according to their size.
FILLETS OF WHITINGS. ✪ Fillets of Whitings
Page 88 · 3 recipe records on this page
Presented as published in 1884. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
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, maybe 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, \ 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 blitter, and the sauce cruets, or with well, made shrimp or an-
G8
cliovy 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.
Records on this page
Soles Stewed in CreamTo Fry WhitingsFillets of Whitings