Fish fry

“ For five or six pounds of fish, fry three or four slices of salt pork—when brown, take them up, and if they do not make fat sufficient to fry the fish in, add a little lard. When the fish are fried enough, take them up, and for good plain gravy, mix two or three tea spoonsful of flour with a little water, and stir it into the fat the fish was fried in—put in a little butter, pepper, and salt, if you wish to have the gravy rich—add spices, catsup and wine—turn the gravy over the fish. ”

“ Lay the fish or slices overlapping each other on a hot dish. Serve with quarters of lemon, and garnish with parsley. (See illustrations facing pages 114 and 124.)
TO FRY FISH
Fish to be fried are first well washed and dried, then dredged with salt, pepper, and flour, then dipped in egg, and rolled in bread or cracker crumbs. The fish should be completely incased in the egg and crumbs, leaving no opening for the grease to enter. The same rule applies to frying fish as to other articles (see page 72) . They must have entire immersion, and the fat smoking hot. ”

“ If fried, enveloped in bread-crumbs, dip the fish lightly into flour, then egg it all over with a paste-brush, and dip in some very fine bread-crumbs, and fry it rather longer, but do not let the fat get black, or it will give the fish a black, heavy appearance, and quite spoil the flavor. Fish fried in oil would have a much better appearance than when fried in fat, but probably would be objectionable to a weak stomach. They ought to be completely covered with the fat. ”

“ If finely divided food is given in such small quantities that practically none of it sinks to the bottom without their having a fair chance at it, I believe that in a box containing only a couple of thousand fry, it would be found that they never stopped feeding during the whole day. If, however, too large pieces of food are offered to the little fish, many of them are likely to be choked and to die, from trying to swallow a piece a little too big for them. ”

“ When done, drain and serve in a hot dish. Lay sliced boiled eggs upon and about it, and serve with egg-sauce, mingled with capers and nasturtium seed.
Fried Sea-Bass.
Use smaller fish for this purpose than for boiling. Clean, wipe dry, inside and out, dredge with flour and season with salt. Fry in hot butter or dripping. A mixture, half butter, half lard, is good for frying fish. The bass should be done to a delicate brown—not to a crisp. The fashion affected by some cooks of drying fried fish to a crust is simply abominable. ”

“ In the cooking of fish, as of flesh and fowl, the plainest and simplest methods are best; and for anything under two pounds, it is not necessary to go beyond the frying-pan. Trout of over a pound should be split down the back, that they may lie well in the pan, and cook evenly. Roll well in meal, or a mixture of meal and flour, and fry to a rich brown in pork fat, piping hot. Larger fish may just as well be fried, but are also adapted to other methods, and there are people who like fish broiled and buttered, or boiled. ”

“ Some people succeed better in crumbing fish by sifting the crumbs on to it through a very fine strainer after it is egged. When the fish are ready put them, black side downwards, into the frying-pan with plenty of fat, hot enough to brown a piece of bread instantaneously, move the pan about gently, and when the soles have been fried four minutes, put a strong cooking-fork into them near the head, turn the white side downwards, and fry three minutes longer. ”

“ The ordinary fry is the normal issue of parent fishes: the so-called gudgeon-fry of small insignificant gudgeon-like fish that burrow under the ground. From the Phaleric fry comes the membras, from the membras the trichis, from the trichis the trichias, and from one particular sort of fry, to wit from that found in the harbour of Athens, comes what is called the encrasicholus, or anchovy. There is another fry, derived from the maenis and the mullet. ”

“ It is difficult to lay down any certain rule as to what is the best time at which to take the next step—that of turning the fry out into the rearing ponds. When the fry have got into more or less regular habits, and showing no fear of whoever it is who feeds them, come up readily and seize the food boldly, is probably the best time to let them out into the larger space of the pond. I do not mean to say that when a certain [Pg 52] proportion of the fish have got over their natural shyness, and feed boldly and without hesitation, the whole of them should be set free. ”

“ The resultant fry are then watched and brooded by the male fish for several days or a week, when they seek the shelter of weeds and grasses in shallow water.
The young fry feed on minute crustaceans and the larval forms of insects. When a month old they are about an inch long, and continue to grow, if food is plentiful, so that they reach a [10] length of from three to six inches in the fall. Thereafter they increase a pound a year under the most favorable conditions, until the maximum weight is attained, which is about five pounds. ”

“ At a given signal the poisonous stuff is baled into the river, and very soon afterwards a scene of wild excitement begins, for the fish are speared or captured with handnets as they rise, stupefied, to the surface. The women scoop up the small fry in their nets. ”

“ When all your fish are fried, with what fat remains in the pan fry some onions, and place them round the fish, and, by way of adding an extra relish to your meal, just throw a few table-spoonfuls of vinegar, some pepper and salt, into the frying-pan, give it a boil up, and pour this round the fish. ”

“ As the fish are cooked solely by the heat of the melted fat, to fry them in the highest perfection there should be enough of it to cover them. Butter or oil is the best for the purpose. To avoid loss, the contents of the frying-pan, after the fish is removed, should be poured into a clean jelly-jar or basin, and reserved for another occasion. The fish being removed from the pan, the superfluous fat should be drained from them preparatory to ‘serving’ them. When fish is divided into fillets or cutlets before being cooked, it is usual to take out the bones, and to dress it with force-meat, &c. ”

“ HOW TO COOK YOUR FISH. There are many ways of cooking your fish. The usual way is to fry him in a hot frying-pan. A slit should be cut in each side of the fish, as otherwise the heat is likely to burst his skin. A little salt and a pinch of mustard put in with the butter in the pan will add to his flavour.
But the simplest way, for you don't generally carry frying-pans with you when you go fishing, is to cut a long stick that bends at an angle of forty-five degrees. Cut one arm to about one-third the length of the other. Trim the short arm with your knife till it is fine and pointed ”

“ 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. ”

“ Fry in plenty of very hot fat to a golden brown, sprinkling lightly with pepper and salt just as the color turns. If fish has not been wiped dry, it will absorb too much grease. If the frying fat is not very hot when fish are put in they will be soggy with it. ”

“ The best food for trout fry is raw liver, chopped as fine as possible, and then rubbed through a screen or sieve with a flat stick. It must be reduced to the consistency of pulp, and contain no strings or gristle. A chopping machine is made for chopping hash or sausage, and either that, or a couple of sharp knives are used to chop the liver. What is used is mixed with water so as to reduce it to about the thickness of cream. A teacupful of this mixture will feed a hundred thousand fish when they first begin to feed. ”

“ The infant fry are of course very helpless, and are seldom seen during the first week or two of their existence, when they carry about with them, as a provision for food, a portion of the egg from whence they emanated. At that time the fish is about half an inch in size, and presents such a singular appearance that no person seeing it would ever believe that it would grow into a fine grilse or salmon. ”

“ Frying.— (a) No way is more successful for cooking the cheaper kinds of fish. Plaice, ling, hake, haddock, small fresh-water fish, conger—all are good. The essential thing is to fry them properly. Cover each piece with egg and breadcrumb, or dip in a thick batter of flour and water; have perfectly fresh fat or sweet oil, and plenty of it; let it be sufficiently hot; and serve the hot fish nicely garnished with lemon and [269] with slices of brown bread and butter. Conger must first be parboiled, or it will not be done enough. As for other fish, it is wise to cut them into strips or fillets. ”

“ If not burnt, it will be found much better than it was at first; but the fat in which fish has been fried, will not serve any other purpose. To fry fish, parsley, potatoes, or any thing that is watery, the fire must be very clear, and the fat quite hot, which will be the case when it has done hissing. ”

“ You may broil fresh cod in steaks, or fry it in cutlets. For frying fish, you may use beef or veal drippings, with the fat skimmed off carefully. Mutton fat (which is tallow) is unfit for all cookery.
TROUT.— Trout is considered a very nice fish, and is in season in the summer. When fresh it is a fine flesh color, and its spots are very bright. To fry trout, dry them in a cloth. Score them deeply, and touch each incision or cut with a little cayenne. Dredge them with flour. Grate some bread-crumbs very fine, and in another pan beat some eggs very light and thick. ”

“ Meanwhile, place some flour in one plate and some beaten eggs in another, and heat a large frying-pan half full of oil or butter. Now wipe your fish slices thoroughly with a clean cloth, dip them first in flour and then in beaten eggs and finally fry until browned.
In frying fish very hot oil is required. If a crumb of bread will brown in twenty seconds the oil is hot enough. Put fish in a frying basket, then into the hot oil and cook five minutes. Drain on brown paper and arrange on platter. Do not stick knife or fork into fish while it is frying. ”

“ FRIED FILLETS OF FISH Marinate the fillets by letting them lie in a mixture of oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and chopped parsley. Take the fillets from the marinade, roll them first in flour, then in egg, and then in white bread crumbs grated from the loaf. Fry them to a lemon color in smoking-hot fat. They must not be cooked too long or they will become dry. They may also be cooked by sautéing, using half butter and half lard. Prepare one fillet at a time, for the covering of flour and crumbs will become damp if it stands long, and then will not crisp. ”

“ The same, boned and fried.—Bone and skin small flounders as directed; mix together a tablespoonful of oil, a teaspoonful of chopped parsley, the juice of half a lemon, and salt; dip the pieces of fish in the mixture, dust them slightly with flour, and fry. Serve hot.
Pike, Pickerel, and Trout or Troutlet.—Those three fish, besides being prepared as directed for bass, etc., and in all its different ways, they are boiled as directed and served warm, with a génoise sauce.
A more delicious dish of fish can hardly be prepared. ”

“ Cook together one tablespoonful each of butter and flour, add one-half cupful of fish stock and cook until thick, stirring constantly. Take from the fire, add one-half cupful of chopped shrimps and one-half cupful of chopped oysters, the yolk of one egg well beaten, and Worcestershire, salt, and Tabasco Sauce to season. Take out the carrots and replace with the cooked mixture. Cool, dip the fillets in egg and crumbs, fry in deep fat, and serve with any preferred sauce. ”

“ Take the Inside of the Bodies of these, and thicken your Sauce with them. Or if you have Cray-fish, take the Bodies of them, and mix them well with your Sauce, and cut the Tails in small bits, as big as Pease. The foregoing way of boiling Fish gives them a relish.
To fry Soles, Flounders, Plaise, Whitings, Smelts, and Gudgeons, or such like.
Take a large quantity of Hog's-Seam, or Lard, and melt it in a Pan, till it is very hot; then put in your Fish, prepared as follows; but first you may fry some Bread, in Lengths, as big as one's Finger, to drain for a Garnish. ”

“ When the herrings come fine and fresh, embrace the opportunity to preserve some by this process. Scale twenty fish, cut off the heads, fins, and tails, open them at the belly, clean them well out, and, if required, wash them in salt and water, and dry them quickly; season the insides with
and fry them a nice brown colour in boiling olive oil, and do the same to the roes, which must have been washed and well dried previous to the frying; set all by to get cold, on sieves or cloths, and keep covered up. ”

“ In frying large-sized fish, cut the slices lengthwise instead of across, for if cut against the grain the rich juices will be lost in the cooking, rendering the fish hard, dry and tasteless. For this reason fish are always better cooked whole, when this can be done. Beat up one or two eggs, with two tablespoonfuls of milk, with salt to season. After dipping the fish in this, dry in cracker dust—never use corn meal—and fry in good lard. ”