Scotch way of dressing haddocks.—A haddock is quite like a different fish in London and in Edinburgh, which arises chiefly from the manner in which they are treated: a haddock should never appear at table with its head and skin on. For boiling, they are all the better for lying a night in salt; of course they do not take so long to boil without the skin, and require to be well skimmed to preserve the colour. After lying in salt for a night, if you hang them up for a day or two, they are very good broiled and served with cold butter. For frying, they should be split and boned very carefully, and divided into convenient pieces, if too large to halve merely; egg and crumb them, and fry in a good deal of lard; they resemble soles when dressed in this manner. There is another very delicate mode of dressing them; you split the fish, rub it well with butter, and do it before the fire in a Dutch oven.
To stew Cod’s Skull, Sole, Carp, Trout, Perch, Eel, or Flounder.—No. 158. (See also [No. 164].)
When the fish has been properly washed, lay it in a stew-pan, with half a pint of claret or port wine, and a quart of good gravy ([No. 329]); a large onion, a dozen berries of black pepper, the same of allspice, and a few cloves, or a bit of mace: cover the fish-kettle close, and let it stew gently for ten or twenty minutes, according to the thickness of the fish: take the fish up, lay it on a hot dish, cover it up, and thicken the liquor it was stewed in with a little flour, and season it with pepper, salt, essence of anchovy, mushroom catchup, and a little Chili vinegar; when it has boiled ten minutes, strain it through a tamis, and pour it over the fish: if there is more sauce than the dish will hold, send the rest up in a boat.
The river trout comes into season in April, and continues till July; it is a delicious fish; those caught near Uxbridge come to town quite alive.
The eels and perch from the same water are very fine.
Obs.—These fish are very nice plain boiled, with [No. 261], or [No. 264], for sauce; some cooks dredge them with flour, and fry them a light brown before they put them on to stew, and stuff them with [No. 374], or some of the stuffings following.
To dress them maigre.
Put the fish into a stew-pan, with a large onion, four cloves, fifteen berries of allspice, and the same of black pepper; just cover them with boiling water, set it where they will simmer gently for ten or twenty minutes, according to the size of the fish; strain off the liquor in another stew-pan, leaving the fish to keep warm till the sauce is ready.
Rub together on a plate as much flour and butter as will make the sauce as thick as a double cream. Each pint of sauce season with a glass of wine, half as much mushroom catchup, a tea-spoonful of essence of anchovy, and a few grains of Cayenne; let it boil a few minutes, put the fish on a deep dish, strain the gravy over it; garnish it with sippets of bread toasted or fried ([No. 319]).
N.B. The editor has paid particular attention to the above receipt, and also to [No. 224], which Catholics, and those whose religious tenets do not allow them to eat meat on maigre days, will find a very satisfactory substitute for the meat gravy soup ([No. 200]).