Halibut is an excellent fish for boiling and baking in thick ■
slices ; the flesh is firm enough to retain its shape, and its
flavor assimilates palatably with any fish-sauce. After wash-
ing the halibut in plenty of cold water, put it over the fire in
FISff AND SHELLFISH {POISSON). 20I
cold salted water✪ Boiled Halibut, boil it until the flakes begin to separate,
and then drain it, and serve it with any good sauce.
FRIED HALIBUT.
To fry two pounds of halibut, iirst slice half a pound of
fat salt pork, and fry it slowly in a large frying-pan until it is
light brown ; then take it up, and keep it hot while the haU-
but is being fried. Wash the fish in cold salted water, dry
it on a clean cloth, cover it on both sides with Indian meal
seasoned with salt and pepper, and fry it brown on both
sides in the pork- drippings. Serve the pork with the halibut.
A very nice gravy may be made for the dish by pouring
nearly all the fat out of the frjdng-pan, after the fish is done,
and putting in it a pint of milk mixed smoothly with a level
tablespoonful of flour✪ Fried Halibut ; season the gravy palatably with salt
and pepper, stir it constantly until it boils for one minute,
and then send it in a bowl to the table with the fried halibut.
Halibut is a good fish for broiling in sHces, according to any
of the recipes given for broiled fish.
FLUKE BONED AND BAKED.
Thoroughly wash the fish in cold water, lay it on its side
on the table, and with a sharp, thin-bladed knife make a
straight cut from the middle of the head, down the side, to
the middle of the tail, cutting through the flesh down to the
bone ; then, with the point of the knife, begin to cut the
flesh from the bone at the head, lifting it with the left hand
as it is cut, so that the edge of the knife may not mangle it,
and keeping the knife laid flat and close to the bone until
the flesh is cut outward to the fins, and free from the bone
from the head to the tail ; then cut it off" along the line of
the fins ; this will give one-fourth of the flesh of the fish in
the form of a long, narrow strip ; cut off the remaining
three-fourths in the same manner, and lay the strips, skin
202 PRACTICAL AMERICAN COOKERY.
down, upon the table. To remove the skin, hold the tail
end of one of the strips firmly with the left hand ; take the
knife in the right hand, and cut down through the flesh of
the strip at the end nearest the left hand, until the skin is
reached, but do not cut through the skin. When the edge
of the knife reaches the skin, begin slowly to turn the knife
with the edge outward until the blade lies flat on the skin
and against the table ; keep the knife in this position, and
cut toward the upper end of the strip, taking care neither to
turn the edge of the knife upward, as that would send it
into the flesh, nor downward, because that would make it cut
through the skin. If these directions are carefully followed,
the skin can be removed from the flesh without any waste.
After the skin is taken off, cut the strips of fish in pieces of
even size, about two inches wide and five inches long.
Page 116 · 2 recipe records on this page
Presented as published in 1885. 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
Halibut is an excellent fish for boiling and baking in thick ■ slices ; the flesh is firm enough to retain its shape, and its flavor assimilates palatably with any fish-sauce. After washing the halibut in plenty of cold water, put it over the fire in
cold salted water, boil it until the flakes begin to separate, and then drain it, and serve it with any good sauce.
FRIED HALIBUT.
To fry two pounds of halibut, iirst slice half a pound of fat salt pork, and fry it slowly in a large frying-pan until it is light brown ; then take it up, and keep it hot while the haUbut is being fried. Wash the fish in cold salted water, dry it on a clean cloth, cover it on both sides with Indian meal seasoned with salt and pepper, and fry it brown on both sides in the pork- drippings. Serve the pork with the halibut. A very nice gravy may be made for the dish by pouring nearly all the fat out of the frying-pan, after the fish is done, and putting in it a pint of milk mixed smoothly with a level tablespoonful of flour ; season the gravy palatably with salt and pepper, stir it constantly until it boils for one minute, and then send it in a bowl to the table with the fried halibut. Halibut is a good fish for broiling in sHces, according to any of the recipes given for broiled fish.
FLUKE BONED AND BAKED.
Thoroughly wash the fish in cold water, lay it on its side on the table, and with a sharp, thin-bladed knife make a straight cut from the middle of the head, down the side, to the middle of the tail, cutting through the flesh down to the bone ; then, with the point of the knife, begin to cut the flesh from the bone at the head, lifting it with the left hand as it is cut, so that the edge of the knife may not mangle it, and keeping the knife laid flat and close to the bone until the flesh is cut outward to the fins, and free from the bone from the head to the tail ; then cut it off" along the line of the fins ; this will give one-fourth of the flesh of the fish in the form of a long, narrow strip ; cut off the remaining three-fourths in the same manner, and lay the strips, skin
down, upon the table. To remove the skin, hold the tail end of one of the strips firmly with the left hand ; take the knife in the right hand, and cut down through the flesh of the strip at the end nearest the left hand, until the skin is reached, but do not cut through the skin. When the edge of the knife reaches the skin, begin slowly to turn the knife with the edge outward until the blade lies flat on the skin and against the table ; keep the knife in this position, and cut toward the upper end of the strip, taking care neither to turn the edge of the knife upward, as that would send it into the flesh, nor downward, because that would make it cut through the skin. If these directions are carefully followed, the skin can be removed from the flesh without any waste. After the skin is taken off, cut the strips of fish in pieces of even size, about two inches wide and five inches long.
Records on this page
Boiled HalibutFried Halibut