[48]. Whitings or haddocks.
FRESH HERRINGS.
(Farleigh Receipt.)
In season from May to October.
Scale and clean the fish with the utmost nicety, split them quite open, and wash the insides with particular care; dry them well in a cloth, take off the heads and tails, and remove the backbones; rub the insides with pepper, salt, and a little pounded mace; stick small bits of butter on them, and skewer two of the fish together as flat as possible, with the skin of both outside; flour, and broil or fry them of a fine brown, and serve them with melted butter mixed with a teaspoonful or more of mustard, some salt, and a little vinegar or lemon-juice.
To broil from 20 to 25 minutes; to fry about 10 minutes.
TO DRESS THE SEA BREAM.
Sea Bream.
The sea-bream, which is common in many of our markets, is not considered a fish of first-rate quality; but if well broiled or baked, it will afford a good, and generally a cheap, dish of excellent appearance, the bream being of handsome size and form. Open and cleanse it perfectly, but do not remove the scales; fold it in a dry cloth to absorb the moisture which hangs about it; lay it over a gentle fire, and broil it slowly, that the heat may gradually penetrate the flesh, which is thick. Should any cracks appear on the surface, dredge a little flour upon them. If of ordinary weight, the bream will require quite half an hour’s broiling; it should be turned, of course, when partially done. Send plain melted butter and anchovy sauce to table with it. In carving it, remove the skin and scales, and serve only the flesh which lies beneath them, and which will be very white and succulent. A more usual and less troublesome mode of dressing the bream is to season the inside slightly with salt and pepper or cayenne, to dust a little more salt on the outside, spread a few bits of butter upon it, and send it to a gentle oven. It is sometimes filled with common veal-stuffing, and then requires to be rather longer baked; and it is often merely wrapped in a buttered paper, and placed in a moderate oven for twenty-five or thirty minutes.