Cassell's dictionary of cookery

I would, however, remind you that in all cases where the substance to be fried is beyond a certain thickness, it must previously be what cooks call parboiled. I would also impress upon you the importance of erring on the side of under-cooking rather than on over-cooking. Suppose, for instance, you have to fry a sole of somewhat imusual thickness. Fii'st take care that the fat in which you fry it is amply sufficient to cover the fish. Suppose now, you leave this fish in boiling fat for the minimum of time you think will be requisite to cook it. It is easy to remove the fish from the boiling fat carefully with a slice, and with a small knife cut the meat away from the back-bone in that part of the fish which is thickest. Should you find the meat adhere to the bone, and at the same time present a red appearance, you will know that the fish is not sufficiently cooked. In this case all you have to do is to place the fish back again for a few minutes longer in the boiling fat. Had, however, you waited for the maximum time, and found it overcooked, I know of no method by which you could undo the harm you have done. One hint as to mending what we may term patches. In cutting the fish you will probably displace a small portion of the outside, and thereby make one of those extremely disagreeable-looking places which we before likened to a scalded cat's back. If you have by you in readiness the dredger containing the bread-raspings, one sprinkle will hide the patch. Cooks with a very slight effort of ingenuity might often cover over these necessary little borings of discovery. I would, in passing, remind cooks that the secret of successful frying to a great extent depends upon the fat being boiling. You cannot fry properly over a slow fire. Now when you have placed a good-sized frying-pan upon the fire, full 6f melted lard, it is not always easy to know when this fat is really boiling and when it is not, for the simple reason that boiling fat will not bubble up like boiling water. To know, therefore, if the fat be boiling, dip your finger into cold water, and let one drop fall into the middle of the fat. Of course, the cold water, having greater specific gi-avity than the fat, would instantly sink, and if the bottom of the frying-pan be sufficiently heated, this drop of water will cause a hissing sound, from its instantaneous conversion into steam, resembling that of plunging a red-hot poker into water. I would, however, warn young beginners against throwing in, in their hurry, too much water at a time, as the sudden conversion into steam of the water thus thrown in will very probably cause the fat to splash, and a few drops of really boiling fat upon the hands and aims will be found PRINCIPLES ECONOMY.