Prepare the cold turbot as for the preceding receipt, but leave no portion of the skin with it. Heat it in a rich bechamel sauce, and serve it in a vol-au-vent, or in a deep dish with a border of fried bread cut in an elegant form, and made with one dark and one light sippet, placed alternately. The surface may be covered with a half-inch layer of delicately fried bread-crumbs, perfectly well drained and dried; or they may be spread over the fish without being fried, then moistened with clarified butter, and browned with a salamander.
For Mould of Cold Turbot with Shrimp Chatney, see Chapter [VI].
TO BOIL A JOHN DORY.
[In best season from Michaelmas to Christmas, but good all the year.]
John Dory.
The John Dory, though of uninviting appearance, is considered by some persons as the most delicious fish that appears at table; in the general estimation, however, it ranks next to the turbot, but it is far less abundant in our markets, and is not commonly to be procured of sufficient size for a handsome dish, except in some few parts of our coast which are celebrated for it. It may easily be known by its yellow gray colour, its one large dark spot on either side, the long filaments on the back, a general thickness of form, and its very ugly head. It is dressed in the same manner, and served usually with the same sauces as a turbot, but requires less time to boil it. The fins should be cut off before it is cooked.
SMALL JOHN DORIES BAKED.
(Author’s Receipt—good.)
We have found these fish when they were too small to be worth cooking in the usual way, excellent when quite simply baked in the following manner, the flesh being remarkably sweet and tender, much more so than it becomes by frying or broiling. After they have been cleaned, dry them in a cloth, season the insides slightly with fine salt, dredge a little flour on the fish, and stick a few very small bits of butter on them, but only just sufficient to prevent their becoming dry in the oven; lay them singly on a flat dish, and bake them very gently from fourteen to sixteen minutes. Serve them with the same sauce as baked soles.