GENERAL METHODS AND RECIPES
The scaling and cleaning of fish are important first steps. In the city this may be done for you at the market, but sometimes on fishing expeditions when you are not a successful fisher you may make yourself useful by cleaning the fish. Clean the fish on a large piece of paper. Use a sharp strong knife, and rub off the scales from the tail to the head. To skin a fish well, you should first watch an expert. Cut through the skin of the back and
abdomen, loosen it at the tail and pull it off. Remove the head, open the abdomen, and take out the entrails. Burn the paper on which the fish has been cleaned. Fish is boned by slitting the flesh down the back, and patiently separating the flesh from the side bones, and finally pulling out the spine and attached bones. The strong odor of fish clings to everything the fish touches. Wash the fish, the knife, and your own hands in cold water and salt. Always pour the water in which fish is washed or cooked down the sink at once, pour in some salt, and flush the trap with cold water. The utensils, and dishes in which fish is served, need very careful washing in several waters.
The connective tissue of fish softens and dissolves more readily than does that of meat. Fish varies in the dryness of the flesh, but there is no such thing as tough fish, and the texture of the muscles is about the same in all parts of the fish, although there is a difference in flavor in the dark and white flesh when these both occur. On account of this characteristic of the connective tissue the fish “falls apart” and our aim must be to prevent this.
Principles of cooking.
1. The protein is affected as in all other foods where it occurs.
2. The fat is melted.
3. Connective tissue quickly softened.
To avoid the breaking of the fish it may be wrapped in cloth for boiling, and the water should simmer only. The coating of small fish or slices of large fish with beaten egg and crumbs tends to hold it together. In all cases avoid overcooking. Fish is done when a fork easily pierces it and separates the flakes of flesh from the bone.
1. Boiled fish.
Use thick pieces of large fish for boiling, or if small fish are used they may be boiled whole. Add salt and vinegar to water in proportion of 1 tablespoonful of salt and two of vinegar to three quarts of water. Use enough water to cover the fish. Wrap the fish in cheesecloth to prevent breaking apart, and plunge into boiling water. Do not let the water boil after fish is in. The fish is done when the flesh leaves the bone or when the flesh flakes apart easily. The usual time for a thick piece is 30-40 minutes.
Mock Hollandaise sauce.
| Butter | 3 | tablespoonfuls |
| Flour | 3 | tablespoonfuls |
| Eggs | 2 | |
| Milk | 2 | cups |
| Salt | 1 | teaspoonful |
| Lemon | 1⁄2 to 1. |
Make as for white sauce, adding the beaten eggs just before taking from fire and stirring until well thickened. Add lemon juice just before serving. This sauce is suitable for boiled fish and vegetables.
2. Left over fish.
Fish may be picked apart, mixed with cream sauce, and served as creamed fish or served as an escallop.
Escalloped fish.
| 2 | cups left over fish, picked over and freed of bones. |
| 1 | cup thin white sauce, dried bread crumbs buttered. |
Butter a baking dish and line with crumbs. Add a layer of fish, using half, and cover with half the sauce. Cover with a layer of crumbs. Add another layer of fish, sauce, and crumbs, making this last layer of crumbs quite thick. Place in a hot oven and leave until crumbs are brown and fish is heated through.
To butter crumbs.
Melt a little butter in a saucepan and turn the crumbs in, stirring them over and over with a spoon until all the crumbs are coated.
3. Baked fish.
Almost any medium sized fish is suitable for baking. The favorites are bluefish, shad, haddock, and halibut, sliced.
Clean the fish, seeing that all scales are removed. Stuff and sew. Shape with skewers to form a letter S and place upright on a baking pan or lay fish on side. If the fish is not a fat kind, put strips of salt pork over it and in pan or cut gashes in fish and lay strips of pork in them. Dredge with flour. Bake one hour for a three-pound fish, in a hot oven, basting frequently with the tried-out fat. Serve with drawn butter or Hollandaise sauce.
Fish stuffing.
| Dried crumbs | 1 | cup |
| Melted butter | 1⁄2 | cup |
| Salt | 1⁄4 | teaspoonful |
| Pepper | 1⁄8 | teaspoonful |
| Onion juice | A few drops | |
| Parsley Capers Pickles | 1 | teaspoonful each, finely chopped |
Mix ingredients in order given.
4. Creamed codfish.
Soak the fish in cold water, and pull it apart with knife and fork. Put it in a saucepan of cold water, allow the water to heat slowly, and stop the heating just before the water reaches the boiling point. Pour off the water, shake the saucepan over the fire, add a thin white sauce, No. 2, and reheat. Serve on toast if desired.
5. Codfish balls or cakes.
Ingredients.
| Codfish, picked | 1 cup |
| Potatoes, cut in cubes | 2 cups |
| Egg | 1 |
| Salt, if needed | to taste |
| Flour for dredging |
Method.
Put the fish and potatoes in a stewpan, cover with cold water, bring the water to the boiling point, and cook until the potato is tender. The whole process will take about 20 minutes. Drain off the water very thoroughly and shake the stewpan over the fire to dry the contents. It is very necessary to have the mixture free from water. Mash and heat the mixture in the stewpan, and add the egg. Taste to see if more salt is needed, as is sometimes the case. Finish as follows:
(a) Shape into round flat cakes about an inch thick, dredge with flour and sauté.
(b) The same, browning the cakes on a greased pan in the oven, or under the gas flame, turning if necessary.
(c) Shape in balls, place these in a wire frying basket, lower the basket into hot fat until the balls brown, lift the basket, drain, and drain the balls on paper. Keep hot until it is time to serve.
Laboratory management.—For individual work or work in groups of two, small fish, as perch, may be procured and these may be stuffed and baked in the period.
SHELLFISH
The shellfish are of two classes; the mollusks including clams, mussels (seldom used in this country), oysters, and scallops, and the crustaceans,—lobsters and crabs. None of the mollusks have high nutritive value, but they are a protein food, and add to the variety of the diet. The composition of the oyster is shown in Fig. 65, and it will be noted that the fat percentage is small and the calorie value low.
The oyster is raised in beds in the ocean, or bays often near the river mouth, and it is the neighborhood to the river that makes it possible for the oyster to carry germs of contagion, particularly of typhoid fever, when city sewage poured into the river passes over the oyster bed. Here, too, government protection is essential, and this is a matter that has created so much excitement that conditions are already improved. There is an association of oyster growers who make a point of advertising clean oyster beds, and cleanly methods of handling and transporting.
Oysters vary in size and flavor, the flavor seeming to depend upon the locality. The smaller are sought for serving raw, and the medium and larger for cooking. They are sold by the measure or number when taken from the shell, the latter giving the surer quantity; and the price is usually one cent apiece. They are in season from September to May. The whole flesh of the oyster is soft and edible, even the muscle by which it opens and shuts its shell being tender.
Clams are of two kinds, distinguished differently in different places. They are known as hard and soft, or round and
long, and in Rhode Island the hard round clam still bears the Indian name Quahaug, the soft shell clam being the only “clam.”
The long clam lies buried in the soft mud of creeks and muddy shores left exposed at low tide, when they are dug by hoes from the mud. The round clam lies on the bottom of shallow warm waters, and is raked with an implement made for the purpose. The round clam is used when very young and small in place of raw oysters; but both kinds when matured have a tough portion that is not softened in cooking, and that is more or less indigestible. The long “neck” which protrudes from the shell has to be discarded.
Both kinds may be roasted in the shell, and are very palatable served hot with melted butter, salt, and pepper. They are most commonly used in soups and in chowder. They are purchased by the quantity or number, are cheaper than oysters, and are always in season.
Scallops, as purchased, are only a part of the animal in the shell, consisting solely of the round white muscle which operates the shell. The escallop, or scallop, is migratory, moving by a shooting motion, the mature scallops reaching the creeks and shores in the autumn, and though found in so-called beds they are not fixtures like the oysters. The flavor is sweet, and they have a quality that makes them more or less indigestible, especially when fried. They are very palatable and more digestible served in a stew made like an oyster stew. They are sold by the measure and are cheap in season.
The lobster is now a luxury, for methods of catching in the past have made them scarce in their old haunts. The lobster is a much more highly developed animal than the mollusk, having strong muscles inside its coat of mail, and the flesh has a protein content that compares very favorably with
meat. When fresh, and not served with rich sauces or eaten at irregular hours, it is not especially indigestible, and may be the main dish at luncheon or supper, served simply with salt, pepper, and melted butter and not taken with meat foods. Its own delicious flavor needs no addition in the way of sauces and high seasoning.
The crab is essentially like the lobster, being smaller, and having a sweeter flavor. The soft shell crab is caught just as the old shell is shed, and is highly esteemed as a delicacy. Both lobsters and crabs are cooked in the shell, and if allowed to die naturally before cooking they are uneatable. They may be purchased alive or cooked, and one is surer of their condition when they are bought alive. Twenty-five cents a pound is now an average price for lobsters in shell. Crabs are somewhat less expensive at times, but soft shells are always high-priced.
The following table shows the food value of a few of this group in terms of the weight of the 100-Calorie portion.
100-calorie Portions of Fish and Shellfish
| Fresh Fish | ||
| Weight of 100-calorie Portion | ||
| Kind | As Purchased (Entrails Removed) | Edible Material |
| Ounces | Ounces | |
| Blue fish | 7.8 | 4.0 |
| Cod. | 7.6 | 5.5 |
| Flounder | 12.5 | 6.2 |
| Haddock | 10.0 | 4.9 |
| Halibut steak | 3.5 | 2.9 |
| Mackerel | 4.5 | 2.5 |
| Salmon | 2.8 | 1.8 |
| Salt Or Smoked Fish | ||
| Cod, Salt | 4.4 | 3.4 |
| Herring, Smoked | 2.2 | 1.2 |
| Halibut, Smoked | 1.7 | 1.6 |
| Mackerel, Salt | 1.4 | 1.2 |
| Shellfish | ||
| Clams | 6.9 | |
| Crabs | 4.3 | |
| Lobster | 4.2 | |
| Oysters | 7.0 | |
| Scallops | 4.8 | |
Preserved fish and shellfish.—Smoking and salting are two old-time methods that are still in use, and smoked salmon, herring, and finnan haddie furnish us well-flavored foods at a reasonable price. Small smoked herring are eaten uncooked, and the other two kinds are excellent broiled, or parboiled and finished in the oven. Salt cod should not be despised, for it is convenient and may be made palatable. Like the meats, the fish preserved by these methods are slightly less available for digestion.
Preserving in oil is made familiar to us by the sardine of Italy in olive oil and the small herring of America in cottonseed oil, which also bears the name of sardine. The latter is less delicate in flavor than the European sardine, but is of course cheaper, and is palatable and of equal food value.
Canned fish and shellfish are used in localities where fresh fish are not easily available, and should not be unwholesome if the process is properly inspected. Canned salmon is the most common, and makes an excellent luncheon dish when well prepared (see chapter on salads).
Principles of cooking.—The protein in all of these is the chief consideration. The oyster is more delicate when cooked just below the boiling point of water for a brief period only. This is also true of the clam, except the tough membranes which must be chopped. The flesh of both lobster and clam is toughened by cooking, and the process should be short.