This delicate little fish requires great care to dress it well. Do not
touch it with the hands, but throw it from your dish or basket into
a cloth, with three or four handsful of flour, and shake it well ; then
put it into a bait sieve, to separate it from the superfluous flour.
Have ready a very deep frying-pan, nearly full of boiling fat, throw
in the fish, which will be done in an instant : they must not be
allowed to take any colour, for if browned, they are spoiled. Lift
them out, and dish them upon a silver or earthenware drainer, with-
out a napkin, piling them very high in the centre. Send them to
table with a cut lemon, and slices of brown bread and butter✪ To Dress White Bait.
WATER SOUCHY.
(Greenwich Receipt.)
This is a very simple and inexpensive dish, much served at the
regular fish-dinners for which Greenwich is celebrated, as well as at
private tables. It is excellent if well prepared ; and as it may be
made with fish of various kinds when they are too small to present
a good appearance or to be palatable dressed in any other way, it is
also very economical. Flounders, perch, tench, and eels, are said to
answer best for water souchy ; but very delicate soles, and several
other varieties of small white fish are often used for it with good
effect : it is often made also with slices of salmon, or of salmon-peel,
freed from the skin.
Throw into rather more than sufficient water to just cover the
CHAP. II.]
PISH.
T9
quantity of fish required for table, from half to three quarters of an
ounce of salt to the quart, a dozen corns of white pepper, a small
bunch of green parsley, and two or three tender parsley roots✪ Water Souchy, first
cut into inch lengths, and then split to the size of straws, Simmer
the mixture until these last are tender, which will be in from half to
a whole hour ; then lay in the fish delicately cleaned, cleared from
every morsel of brown skin, and divided into equal portions of about
two inches in width. Take off all the scum as it rises, and stew the
fish softly from eight to twelve minutes, watching it that it may not
break from being over-done.
Two minutes before it is dished, strew in a large tablespoonful or
more of minced parsley, or some small branches of the herb boiled
very green in a separate saucepan (we prefer the latter mode) ; lift
out the fish carefully with a slice, and the parsley roots with it ; pour
over it the liquor in which it has been boiled, but leave out the
peppercorns. For a superior water souchy, take all the bones out of
the fish, and stew down the inferior portions of it to a strong broth :
about an hour will be sufficient for this. Salt, parsley, and a little
cayenne may be added to it. Strain it off clear through a sieve, and
use it instead of water for the souchy. The juice of half a good
lemon may be thrown into the stew before it is served. A deep dish
will of course be required ✪ Water Souchy for it. The parsley-roots can be boiled
apart when more convenient, but they give an agreeable flavour
when added to the liquor at first. Slices of brown or white bread
and butter must be sent to table always with water souchy : the first
is usually preferred, but to suit all tastes some of each may be served
with it.
SHAD, TOURAINE FASHION.
(Alose a la mode de Touraine.')
[In season in April, May, and early part of June.] ✪ Shad, Touraine Fashion
Page 97 · 4 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
This delicate little fish requires great care to dress it well. Do not touch it with the hands, but throw it from your dish or basket into a cloth, with three or four handsful of flour, and shake it well ; then put it into a bait sieve, to separate it from the superfluous flour. Have ready a very deep frying-pan, nearly full of boiling fat, throw in the fish, which will be done in an instant : they must not be allowed to take any colour, for if browned, they are spoiled. Lift them out, and dish them upon a silver or earthenware drainer, without a napkin, piling them very high in the centre. Send them to table with a cut lemon, and slices of brown bread and butter.
WATER SOUCHY.
(Greenwich Receipt.)
This is a very simple and inexpensive dish, much served at the regular fish-dinners for which Greenwich is celebrated, as well as at private tables. It is excellent if well prepared ; and as it may be made with fish of various kinds when they are too small to present a good appearance or to be palatable dressed in any other way, it is also very economical. Flounders, perch, tench, and eels, are said to answer best for water souchy ; but very delicate soles, and several other varieties of small white fish are often used for it with good effect : it is often made also with slices of salmon, or of salmon-peel, freed from the skin.
Throw into rather more than sufficient water to just cover the
PISH.
T9
quantity of fish required for table, from half to three quarters of an ounce of salt to the quart, a dozen corns of white pepper, a small bunch of green parsley, and two or three tender parsley roots, first cut into inch lengths, and then split to the size of straws, Simmer the mixture until these last are tender, which will be in from half to a whole hour ; then lay in the fish delicately cleaned, cleared from every morsel of brown skin, and divided into equal portions of about two inches in width. Take off all the scum as it rises, and stew the fish softly from eight to twelve minutes, watching it that it may not break from being over-done.
Two minutes before it is dished, strew in a large tablespoonful or more of minced parsley, or some small branches of the herb boiled very green in a separate saucepan (we prefer the latter mode) ; lift out the fish carefully with a slice, and the parsley roots with it ; pour over it the liquor in which it has been boiled, but leave out the peppercorns. For a superior water souchy, take all the bones out of the fish, and stew down the inferior portions of it to a strong broth : about an hour will be sufficient for this. Salt, parsley, and a little cayenne may be added to it. Strain it off clear through a sieve, and use it instead of water for the souchy. The juice of half a good lemon may be thrown into the stew before it is served. A deep dish will of course be required for it. The parsley-roots can be boiled apart when more convenient, but they give an agreeable flavour when added to the liquor at first. Slices of brown or white bread and butter must be sent to table always with water souchy : the first is usually preferred, but to suit all tastes some of each may be served with it.
SHAD, TOURAINE FASHION.
(Alose a la mode de Touraine.')
[In season in April, May, and early part of June.]
Records on this page
To Dress White BaitWater SouchyWater SouchyShad, Touraine Fashion