To fry fish successfully it should be literally boiled in fat. This cannot be done over a slow or smoky fire, neither can it be done unless an abundance of fat be allowed. It is not an extravagant method, even if the pan be a large one, and it takes two or three pounds to fill it. If carefully poured into a basin containing boiling water after the fish has been cooked, the loose breadcrumbs and other particles will fall to the bottom, and the fat form a clear white crust. When due care is exercised there is no reason why the same fat should not be used fifty times over.
Let it be quite boiling when the fish is put in. This may be known by its perfect stillness and the faint blue vapour which will rise from it. When the fish has been washed and carefully dried, flour it before dipping into beaten egg, and use brown raspings in preference to breadcrumbs.
Lay a small piece of blotting-paper at the bottom of the dish to absorb all grease.
Various recipes for baking fish are given in the following pages. Perhaps one of the nicest ways of doing fish in the oven is au gratin. Briefly described, this consists of a layer of mixed herbs and breadcrumbs laid first at the bottom of a well-buttered dish, the fish laid on this, then the same ingredients with seasoning and more butter over it. Very often a glass of wine or vinegar is added.
Anything cooked au gratin must always come to table in the dish in which it was cooked, hence the gratin-dish, sometimes of silver, sometimes of polished tin or fire-proof china, is another kitchen requisite almost indispensable.
When intending to use salted fish for any dish it should always be allowed to lie in water at least twenty-four hours previously, and the water should be changed frequently; then drain and dry thoroughly.
[PART III.]
TESTED RECIPES.