Brill (Barbue).—Brill is very like turbot, but less firm, thus requiring more care in the dressing. (a) After thoroughly cleansing, cut off the fins and rub the fish over with lemon juice 2-3 hours before cooking to make it white. Place it in the fish kettle with sufficient cold water to cover it, add 3-4 oz. salt and a little vinegar to 1 gal. water, heat it gradually by the side of the fire. As soon as it boils, skim, or the scum will fall on the fish and spoil its appearance. Let simmer till well done, but not broken. A large brill will take, after it boils, about 15 minutes, but to make sure of its being nicely cooked, lift up the drainer and try the fish with a fork (not steel). If the fish slips from the bone easily, and the bone is not the least red, the brill is ready to drain. It should be carefully drained before placing it on a hot napkin, garnished with slices of lemon and some lobster coral. Serve with lobster or shrimp sauce in a sauce tureen.
Brill, although inferior in plumpness and in the beautiful texture and abundance of skin and fins to the turbot, is nevertheless a very delicate fish, and worthy of the care often bestowed upon it. It is very good when boiled and served with shrimp sauce, and may also be cut into fillets and stewed or fried. (b) It is also nice when dressed as follows: Cleanse the brill and cut its back down to the central bone. Butter the bottom of a baking dish, and sprinkle this with finely chopped shallots and mushrooms, a very little onion, and some parsley similarly treated. Moisten these herbs with a mixture of Madeira or brown sherry and some good brown gravy. Lay the brill on his back on the couch of herbs, sprinkle a little more minced mushroom and shallot over him, and pour over some rich melted butter. Put the dish on the fire till it shows signs of boiling, and then into a moderate oven till done.
Carp (Carpe).—Au bleu.—A famous cold dish of fish is that called au bleu. Trout, carp, and perch are good in this way. Prepare the carp, tie up the head, and put the fish in a kettle. Make some vinegar boiling hot, and pour it (scalding) over the carp; then moisten with red wine, and add 3 large onions cut in rounds, 2 carrots sliced, parsley, sage, shallots, thyme, bay leaves, and a few cloves, pepper, and salt. Put the fish kettle on the fire, and let it simmer only for about 1 hour, when take it off. Let the fish get cold in the liquor, and when wanted for serving take it out and lay on a napkin in a dish. This is very nice when accompanied by a remoulade sauce.
Broiled.—Take a fresh carp, gill it, draw, scrape off the slime, and wipe it dry with a clean cloth inside and out, lay it on a dish with vinegar, claret, salad oil, sweet herbs (rosemary, marjoram, &c.), sliced ginger, coarse pepper, cloves, and mace; let them steep 2 hours, then gently broil over a clear fire, turning often, and basting with the liquor and herbs it was steeped in. Serve with the herbs, spices, and liquor boiled up together, and some butter beaten up with the juice of oranges or lemons; or with plain salad oil, and the spawn broiled by itself and laid on the carp; or with sauce made with pickled oyster liquor, white wine, grated nutmeg, juice of oranges, and a little vinegar broiled and beaten up with butter and the yolk of an egg. Pike, mullet, roach, dace, or bream may so be dressed; but their blood and spawn must not be used, and they may be broiled either with scales or without. Also slices of salmon and conger eel can be cut in pieces and cooked in the same way. This latter is best parboiled before broiled.
En Matelote.—Clean a fat carp and leave it whole. Take any other fresh-water fish that you may have handy, such as eels, pike, tench, perch, &c., cut them into pieces, put into a stewpan with a liberal allowance of butter and a few small onions blanched, and let them take colour. Now put in the carp surrounded with roes, moisten with equal quantities of red wine and good gravy, and a piece of butter rolled in flour. Let it boil, and when it is half done put in a couple of bay leaves and a little sage. Draw back the stewpan, and cook gently. When the sauce is sufficiently reduced, put the carp into a hot dish, pour the ragoût over it, and garnish with fried sippets and crayfish.
In Brown Sauce.—Cut the carp in pieces and pack them in a deep dish, strewing between some salt, pepper, 3 pounded cloves, a bay leaf, 2 slices of lemon, and a small shallot minced; pour over a glass of wine and the same of vinegar; cover, and let them stand a few hours; melt some butter in a stewpan, and dredge in as much flour as it absorbs, to brown; thin this with very little water, just to keep the thickening from burning to a cake; mince a rasher or two of bacon and a small onion; put these in a stewpan, and drain in the pickle from the fish; when the sauce boils, lay in the fish, and simmer gently till done; dish the slices whole, and strain the sauce over them.
Pie.—Scale a carp, draw, remove gills, &c.; lay butter in the pie dish, and then the fish, with cloves, mace, nutmeg, 2 handfuls of capers, and currants cleaned; mix some butter and salt, and lay them over; cover with paste; lastly, pour in (at a hole in the top) some white wine, and bake. It is as good hot as cold.
Roast.—Leave on the scales, cut out the gills, draw, wash, and remove the spawn. Make a stuffing of grated manchet (breadcrumbs), almond paste, cream, currants, grated nutmeg, new yolks of eggs, candied lemon, or other peel, some lemon and salt. Make it stiff and stuff the fish, but not too full. Roast in the oven on 2 or 3 sticks laid across a dish, turn, and let the gravy drop into the dish. Dish it with slices of lemon, and sauce made with the above gravy; the juice of an orange or lemon, and some cinnamon mixed with butter.
Soused.—Draw, but do not scale the fish, save the liver, and wash it well; boil 1 pt. white wine, and 4 of water with some spice and sweet herbs; just before putting in the fish add a little vinegar (to make it crisp); when done, take out the fish. Add to the liquor some white pepper, bruised ginger, and let it boil, then get cold. Put the fish into it for 4-5 days, serve with vinegar and fennel.
Stewed.—Scale, cut out gills, wash clean, and dry with a clean cloth, flour, and fry them in butter; put them, when the liquor boils, into a stewpan, with ½ pint claret, grated nutmeg, mace, and anchovy chopped fine, a little sliced ginger, 3 or 4 cloves, salt, and 3 or 4 slices of orange; cover up the stewpan, and stew quickly, turning the fish occasionally. When cooked, dish with sippets of fried bread and slices of orange, lay the spices on and pour over a sauce made with butter and some of the liquor in which the fish was stewed. Garnish with grated breadcrumbs.