Roll up as many of these pieces as are desired, making
a little compact roll of each one, and place them side by
side in an earthen dish which will just contain them ; season,
them highly with salt and pepper, put a bit of butter about
half an inch square on each one, and bake them in a hot
oven until the flakes begin to separate ; then serve them at
once in the dish in which they were baked. Fluke is good
either fried or broiled.
These directions will serve as a guide in boning any kind
of fresh fish. Fish which has been frozen cannot be boned
easily, because the flakes are apt to break apart upon the least
pressure.
BLUEFJSH BAKED WHOLE.
Choose a medium-sized bluefish ; have it drawn from the
gills to avoid splitting it ; wash it in cold salted water, and
stuff it with the following forcemeat : Soak a pint of stale,
bread in cold water, and squeeze out the water when the
bread is soft ; meanwhile chop fine a small onion, two table-
spoonfuls of parsley, and a teaspoonful of fresh thyme, savory,
FISff AND SHELLFISH (PO/SSOJV). 203
or sweet marjoram ; put these ingredients into a frying-pan
with a tablespoonful of butter and the soaked bread, and
stir them over the fire until they are smoking-hot. Use this
forcemeat for stuffing the fish. On the bottom of a dripping-
pan put half a pound of salt pork, cut in slices ;. lay the fish
on the pork, season it highly with salt and pepper✪ Bluefish Baked Whole, and put
it into a hot oven to bake. Let it cook until it is nicely
browned, and the skin begins to crack ; a medium-sized fish
will cook in about an hour. Change the fish from the pan
to a hot platter, lay the pork on it, and serve it as soon as it
is done.
Bluefish is excellent either fried or broiled.
SLICES or FISH BOILED.
When a fish is very large, like bluefish, pike, or salmon, and
not all is required, portions of it may be boiled in slices of
different sizes, and then served. The slices shown in the
accompanying picture are about two inches thick ; they can
Slices of Fish Boiled.
be laid upon the drainer of a fish-kettle to boil, or wrapped
separately in pieces of cloth, and then boiled ; care must be
taken to keep them intact, for if they are broken the beauty
of the dish is greatly impaired. After the slices of fish are
boiled, they may be served upon a napkin, on a bed of
204 PRACTICAL AMERICAN COOKERY,
parsley, with some small balls cut from potatoes and boiled,
or with any garnish preferred, and sent to the table with
any chosen fish-sauce. The larger portions of a cut fish are
called, in the French cookery-books, a dame and a tron-
(on, as shown in engravings subsequently given.
SHRIMP OB PBAWN SAUCE.
Either of these sauces is excellent for boiled fish. Both
shrimp and prawns are now marketed already boiled, and
very good prawns are sent from the South in cans ; the fish
may be used in any of these forms, and are simply added to
a good white sauce, just before serving it, in the proportion
of a cupful of dressed shrimp or prawns to a quart of white
sauce.
When fresh shrimp or prawns are used, they are to be
freed from bits of sea-grass or weed which may have been
used in packing them for transportation, and then boiled in
plenty of salted boiling water until the shells turn red. After
the fish are boiled, the flesh of the tails is taken from the
shells, and it is then ready for use.
•
Page 117 · 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
Roll up as many of these pieces as are desired, making a little compact roll of each one, and place them side by side in an earthen dish which will just contain them ; season, them highly with salt and pepper, put a bit of butter about half an inch square on each one, and bake them in a hot oven until the flakes begin to separate ; then serve them at once in the dish in which they were baked. Fluke is good either fried or broiled.
These directions will serve as a guide in boning any kind of fresh fish. Fish which has been frozen cannot be boned easily, because the flakes are apt to break apart upon the least pressure.
BLUEFISH BAKED WHOLE.
Choose a medium-sized bluefish ; have it drawn from the gills to avoid splitting it ; wash it in cold salted water, and stuff it with the following forcemeat : Soak a pint of stale, bread in cold water, and squeeze out the water when the bread is soft ; meanwhile chop fine a small onion, two tablespoonfuls of parsley, and a teaspoonful of fresh thyme, savory,
FISH AND SHELLFISH (POISSON). 203
or sweet marjoram ; put these ingredients into a frying-pan with a tablespoonful of butter and the soaked bread, and stir them over the fire until they are smoking-hot. Use this forcemeat for stuffing the fish. On the bottom of a drippingpan put half a pound of salt pork, cut in slices ;. lay the fish on the pork, season it highly with salt and pepper, and put it into a hot oven to bake. Let it cook until it is nicely browned, and the skin begins to crack ; a medium-sized fish will cook in about an hour. Change the fish from the pan to a hot platter, lay the pork on it, and serve it as soon as it is done.
Bluefish is excellent either fried or broiled.
SLICES or FISH BOILED.
When a fish is very large, like bluefish, pike, or salmon, and not all is required, portions of it may be boiled in slices of different sizes, and then served. The slices shown in the accompanying picture are about two inches thick ; they can
Slices of Fish Boiled.
be laid upon the drainer of a fish-kettle to boil, or wrapped separately in pieces of cloth, and then boiled ; care must be taken to keep them intact, for if they are broken the beauty of the dish is greatly impaired. After the slices of fish are boiled, they may be served upon a napkin, on a bed of
parsley, with some small balls cut from potatoes and boiled, or with any garnish preferred, and sent to the table with any chosen fish-sauce. The larger portions of a cut fish are called, in the French cookery-books, a dame and a tron- (on, as shown in engravings subsequently given.
SHRIMP OR PRAWN SAUCE.
Either of these sauces is excellent for boiled fish. Both shrimp and prawns are now marketed already boiled, and very good prawns are sent from the South in cans ; the fish may be used in any of these forms, and are simply added to a good white sauce, just before serving it, in the proportion of a cupful of dressed shrimp or prawns to a quart of white sauce.
When fresh shrimp or prawns are used, they are to be freed from bits of sea-grass or weed which may have been used in packing them for transportation, and then boiled in plenty of salted boiling water until the shells turn red. After the fish are boiled, the flesh of the tails is taken from the shells, and it is then ready for use.
•
Records on this page
Bluefish Baked WholeWhite Sauce