Baked Smelts. — ^Wash, and dry twelve smelts thoroughly in a
cloth, and arrange them nicely in a flat baking-dish. Cover with fine
bread-crumbs, and little pieces of butter. Season with salt, cayenne,
and two blades pounded mace, and bake for fifteen minutes. Just
before serving, add a squeeze of lemon-juice, and garnish with fried
parsley✪ Baked Smelts and cut lemon. For Fried Smelts the fish should be very fresh,
and not washed more than is necessary.- Dry them in a cloth, lightly *
flour, dip them in egg, and sprinkle over with very fine bread-crumbs,
and fry m hot lard as doughnuts to nice pale brown ; be careful
Q not to take off the light roughness of the crumbs, or their
o* beauty will be spoiled. Dry them before the fire on a
drainer, and serve at once (or the crispness and flavor will
be lost,) with plain melted butter. Or place on skewers
with thin slices of bacon between the fish; fry in hot
lard or oil as above, serving one skewerful, skewer and
all, to each person, garnishing with lemon slices. Use either silver
Fisn. 255
plated or polished wire skewers. They are about three inches long.
Fried Filleted Soles. — Soles for filleting should be large, as the
flesh can be more easily separated from the bones, and there is less
waste. Skin and wash the fish, raise the meat carefully firom
the bones, and divide it into nice handsome pieces. The more usual
way is to roll the fillets, after dividing each one in two pieces, and
either bind them round with twine, or run a small skewer through
them. Brush over with egg, and cover with bread-crumbs ; fry as
doughnuts. Lift them out carefully, and lay them before the fire on
a reversed sieve and soft paper, to absorb the fat ; or place a sheet
of kitchen paper in a dripping pan ; place the fillets on that and
set in oven a moment or two. Particular attention should be paid
to this, as nothing is more disagreeable than greasy fish. Serve
hot and garnish with fried parsley✪ Fried Filleted Soles and cut lemon. When a pretty
dish is desired, this is by lar the most elegant mode of dressing
soles, as they look much better than when fried whole. Instead
of rolling the fillets, they may be cut into square pieces, and arranged
in the shape of a .pyramid on the dish. Any fish may be filleted
as above.
Baked Sturgeon. — A piece of sturgeon weighing five or six
pounds is enougn for a handsome dish; skin and put in salted
water and parboil for half an hour to remove superfluous oil ; pre-
pare a dressing of bread-crumbs, fine bits of fat sgilt pork, sweet
herbs and butter ; gash upper end of fish quite deeply and rub this
forcemeat in well ; place in baking dish on trivet with a little hot
water✪ Baked Sturgeon to prevent burning and bake an hour. Serve with a drawn
butter sauce in which has been stirred a tablespoon caper sauce and
one of walnut catsup or anchovy sauce.
Page 214 · 3 recipe records on this page
Presented as published in 1890. 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
Baked Smelts. — ^Wash, and dry twelve smelts thoroughly in a cloth, and arrange them nicely in a flat baking-dish. Cover with fine bread-crumbs, and little pieces of butter. Season with salt, cayenne, and two blades pounded mace, and bake for fifteen minutes. Just before serving, add a squeeze of lemon-juice, and garnish with fried parsley and cut lemon. For Fried Smelts the fish should be very fresh, and not washed more than is necessary. Dry them in a cloth, lightly flour, dip them in egg, and sprinkle over with very fine bread-crumbs, and fry m hot lard as doughnuts to nice pale brown ; be careful not to take off the light roughness of the crumbs, or their o* beauty will be spoiled. Dry them before the fire on a drainer, and serve at once (or the crispness and flavor will be lost) with plain melted butter. Or place on skewers with thin slices of bacon between the fish; fry in hot lard or oil as above, serving one skewerful, skewer and
all, to each person, garnishing with lemon slices. Use either silver
Fisn. 255
plated or polished wire skewers. They are about three inches long.
Fried Filleted Soles. — Soles for filleting should be large, as the flesh can be more easily separated from the bones, and there is less waste. Skin and wash the fish, raise the meat carefully firom the bones, and divide it into nice handsome pieces. The more usual way is to roll the fillets, after dividing each one in two pieces, and either bind them round with twine, or run a small skewer through them. Brush over with egg, and cover with bread-crumbs ; fry as doughnuts. Lift them out carefully, and lay them before the fire on a reversed sieve and soft paper, to absorb the fat ; or place a sheet of kitchen paper in a dripping pan ; place the fillets on that and set in oven a moment or two. Particular attention should be paid to this, as nothing is more disagreeable than greasy fish. Serve hot and garnish with fried parsley and cut lemon. When a pretty dish is desired, this is by lar the most elegant mode of dressing soles, as they look much better than when fried whole. Instead of rolling the fillets, they may be cut into square pieces, and arranged in the shape of a .pyramid on the dish. Any fish may be filleted as above.
Baked Sturgeon. — A piece of sturgeon weighing five or six pounds is enougn for a handsome dish; skin and put in salted water and parboil for half an hour to remove superfluous oil ; prepare a dressing of bread-crumbs, fine bits of fat salt pork, sweet herbs and butter ; gash upper end of fish quite deeply and rub this forcemeat in well ; place in baking dish on trivet with a little hot water to prevent burning and bake an hour. Serve with a drawn butter sauce in which has been stirred a tablespoon caper sauce and one of walnut catsup or anchovy sauce.
Records on this page
Baked SmeltsFried Filleted SolesBaked Sturgeon