To fry halibut—take a piece from the middle of the fish, wash it very carefully, and dry it in a clean cloth. Then cut it into thick fillets, extracting the bone, which is easily done with a sharp knife, loosening the flesh from the bone, and raising it as you proceed. Remove the skin. You may also cut the fillets into slices about an inch thick. Season with cayenne, and a very little salt. Cover them slightly with nice butter. Have ready in one pan plenty of grated bread-crumbs; in another a sufficiency of beaten yolk of egg, seasoned with powdered mace and nutmeg. Dip the slices first into the egg, then into the pan of bread-crumbs. Do this twice over, to every slice. Have ready over the fire a hot frying pan full of boiling lard. Put in the slices and fry them well. When one side is done, turn the other. When all are done, take them from the frying pan with a perforated skimmer, and drain them. Keep them hot between two heated dishes.
Cooked in this manner, the halibut will be sufficiently flavored and is a profitable fish.
Instead of frying, the halibut steaks may be broiled over a clear fire, on a grooved gridiron. Having first buttered it, dip each steak, as above, in bread-crumbs and egg, and lay upon each steak a large tomato opened, and stuffed with a forcemeat of bread-crumbs seasoned with butter, pepper, and mace. This will be found a very nice way of cooking halibut. Fresh cod may be done in the same manner.
Cold halibut is sometimes drest as salad for the tea-table.
BOILED TURBOT OR SHEEP'S-HEAD FISH.—
Having cleaned and washed the fish, soak it an hour or two in salt and water to draw off the slime. Then let it lie half an hour or more in cold water. Afterwards drain, and wipe it dry. Score the back deeply with a knife. The whiteness of the fish will be improved by rubbing it over with a cut lemon. The fish kettle must be large, and nicely clean. Lay the fish with its back downward, on the strainer of the kettle. Cover it well with cold water, (milk and water in equal portions will be better still,) and add a small spoonful of salt. Do not let it come to a boil too fast, and skim it carefully. When the scum has ceased to rise, diminish the heat under the kettle, and let it simmer for about half an hour or more; not allowing it to boil hard. When the fish is done, take it up carefully with a fish-slice; and having prepared the sauce, pour it over the fish and send it to table hot.
For the sauce, mix together very smoothly, with a broad-bladed knife, a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, and two table-spoonfuls of flour. Put them into a clean sauce-pan, and hold it over the fire, and stir them till melted. Then add a large salt-spoonful of powdered mace, and as much cayenne as will lie on a sixpence. It will be much improved by the addition of some boiled lobster, chopped small. When the sauce has simmered five minutes, add very gradually half a pint of rich cream, and let it come almost to a boil, stirring all the time. After the fish is taken up, pour the sauce over it hot. Or you may send it to table in a sauce-boat. In this case ornament the fish with the coral of the lobster put on in a handsome figure.
Another way of dressing this fish is, after it has been boiled, to set it on ice to get cold; and then, having carefully removed the bones, cut the flesh into small squares, put it into a stew-pan, and having mixed the above sauce, add it to the fish, and let it stew slowly in the sauce; but do not let it come to a boil. When thoroughly hot, take it up, and send it to table in a deep dish.