Warne's model cookery and housekeeping book : containing complete instructions in household management / compiled and edited by Mary Jewry.
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Tg Boil Turhet. and slide the fish on a white napkin neatly folded on a dish. Garnish and serve. Fresh-water fish have often a muddy taste and smell, which may be got rid of by soaking them in strong salt and water before they are cooked. Saltfish should be soaked in water before boiling according to the time it has been in salt. When it is hard and dry, it will require thirty-si.\ hours soaking before it is dressed, and the water must be changed three or four times. When fish is not very salt, twenty-four hours, or even one night will suffice. Crimped fish must be put into boiling water, and when it has been placed on the fire and re-boils, pour in a teacupful of cold water to check it, and let it simmer a few minutes. Salmon is put into warm water to be dressed. Cod, whiting, and haddock are better if kept a day before boiling ; just putting a little salt on them the night before dressing. But some great cooks have advocated dressing cod quite fresh ; from our own e.\- perience we prefer it kept for twelve hours. To Fry Fish. 45. Cleanse them thoroughly, dry them on a folded cloth, dredge fio ir lightly over them, brush them with a well-beaten egg, then dip them in fine bread-crumbs. Have ready enough fine oil, or melted ■ lard or beef dripping (clarified), to entirely cover the fish. Place the frying-pan over a clear fire. Let the lard reach boiling-point, and then immerse the fish in it. You may try whether the fat is hot enough by letting a drop of cold water fall into it from the end of your spoon. If the hot fat spits it is ready for use. Then fry, turning the fish (when one side is browned) to the other. When it is done lay it on a cloth, or on white blotting-paper, to drain off all the fat ; or put it on a reversed sieve for a little while. Ser\'e it extremely dry on a white cloth or embossed fish paper. Ta Broil Fish. 46. A clear fire is required. Rub the bars of your gridiron with dripping or a piece of beef suet, to prevent the fish from sticking to it. Put a good piece of butter into a dish, work into it enough salt and pepper to season the fish. Lay the fish on it when it is broiled, and tvith a knife blade put the butter over every part. Serve very hot. To Boil Turbot. Time, one hour, for ten pounds, more or less according to weight. 47. Empty the fish, wash the inside, rub a little salt over the outside to help remove the slime. Put it in water to cleanse it, change the water several times. Pour plenty of cold spring water into a fish-kettle, add to each a gallon of water, four ounces of salt, and a quarter of an ounce, or less, of salt- petre. Let this dissolve while you prepare your turbot. Make an incision in the skin of the back nearly to the bone, to prc\’cnt the skin of the white side from cracking. Do not cut off the fins, these are considered a delicacy. Place the turbot on the fish- plate, and put it into the water, which should quite cover it. Let it boil slowly and skim the water very carefully. Then let it simmer gently for about half an hour, if it is of great size, according to the propor- tionate weight. When it is done lift up the fish plate and let it drain ; keep it very hot while you garnish it with lobster coral (which must be rubbed through a fine hair sieve) ; then slide it gently on a hot dish, on which a folded damask napkin or an ornamental fish paper has been placed previously. It is usual to serve the under or white part of the turbot uppermost, and certainly tlie contrast of the pure white skin with the lobster coral ornamentation on it, makes it the most inviting-looking fish ser\’ed. But epicures have lately preferred it served with the dark side or back upwards, on account of some supposed superiority of the flesh of the fish on that side. It is given in our engraving in the newest mode of serving it ; but not being an epicure ourselves, we pre- fer the old and more picturesque fashion. Garnish with sprigs of curled parsley and slices of lemon alternately. Sauce.—Lobster, shrimp, or ancho\'y, in a tureen. Twice-laid Turbot. Time, twenty minutes. 48. The remains of a turbot boiled the day previously ; two tablcspoonfuls of flour ; one quart of milk ; a small bunch of par- sley ; a bay-leaf and a little thyme ; a spoon- ful of salt, and a saltspoon (not quite full) of pepper; a quarter of a pound of fresh butter. Pick the fish from its bones and warm it gently in salt and water. While it is doing make a sauce of the ingredients given above by mixing the flour and milk very smoothly, adding the herbs and seasoning, and stirring it over the fire till it is tolerably thick. Then lift it to the side of the fire, stir in a quarter of a pound of butter, and pa.ss it through a sieve. Cover the bottom of the dish with, this simple white sauce, lay on it some of your fish, sprinkling it with white peoper and