Salt Codfish Chowder.
1 pint of milk.
1/2 pint of shredded codfish.
3 gills of potato cubes
3 ounces of salt pork.
2 tablespoonfuls of minced onion.
1/4 teaspoonful of pepper.
1 tablespoonful of flour.
Salt.
3 Boston crackers.
Wash the fish and cut it into two-inch lengths. Tear these in pieces, and, covering with cold water, soak for three or four hours. Slice the pork, and cook in the frying-pan for ten minutes. Add the onion and cook for ten minutes. Now add the flour, and stir until smooth; after which, stir in one gill of water. Put the potatoes in a stewpan and pour the mixture in the frying-pan over them. Season with the pepper and half a teaspoonful of salt. Place on the fire and cook for ten minutes; then take out the slices of pork and add the fish, milk, and the crackers split. Cook gently for half an hour, being careful to let the chowder only bubble at one side of the stewpan. At the end of the half-hour, taste before serving, to be sure to have it salt enough.
CHAPTER IX.
FISH.
FRESH fish should frequently be substituted for meat. For those who live in seaboard towns there is no trouble in obtaining a variety. Every inland place has its own peculiar species, which should have precedence over other kinds; for the first thing to be taken into account is freshness. Fish brought from a distance deteriorates with the handling it receives and the time it is out of the water.
The lighter the fish, the greater the variety of modes by which it may be cooked. It also may be served more frequently without one’s becoming tired of it. For example, at the Isles of Shoals visitors are offered broiled scrod every day in the week, yet they do not weary of the dish in a stay of months. At Nantucket broiled bluefish is served daily, and it is so delicious that its appearance three times a day would at first be hailed with pleasure; but after a short time the appetite would become palled, because the fish is rich. It would be the same with the freshest and most toothsome salmon and mackerel. A rich fish satiates much sooner than a lighter and poorer kind, and for this reason it is advisable to avoid having the richer varieties frequently. Of course, the poorer kinds require more and richer sauces than salmon, mackerel, or bluefish. Whitefish, like cod, haddock, cusk, halibut, and flounders, is improved by the addition of sauces made of milk, cream, or white stock.
Boiling is the least desirable mode of preparing fish, because it causes the greatest loss of flavor and nutriment. A fine sauce is needed to make the dish satisfactory. But boiling has one merit: the remains of the fish after the first meal are in better form for use in little dishes of many kinds than they are if any other way of cooking be employed. Small fish, like brook trout, smelts, etc., are best when fried.