Fried fish

“ All large fish make nice fricassee. Cut the fish into slices and lay it in a gravy made of fried onions, parsley, tomatoes and a little garlic; fry in butter and serve. Add catsup if liked.
TO FRY FISH
The fat from bacon, or salt pork, is much nicer to fry fish in, than lard. After the fish is cleaned, wash it and wipe it dry, and let it lie on a cloth till all the moisture is absorbed; then roll it in flour. No salt is required if fried in bacon or pork fat. There must be fat enough to float the fish or they will not fry nicely, but instead soak fat and be soft to the touch. ”

“ Fish Fryer and Drainer.—This is an admirable contrivance for frying fish, by using which an experienced cook is much more likely to insure success and send a dish of fried fish properly to table. It is in shape not unlike a preserving-pan fitted with a closely-made wire drainer; and in this the fish is placed and lowered into the heated fat. As in frying fish it is necessary to have a large amount of fat, the depth of this kettle gives it a considerable superiority over the ordinary frying-pan. ”

“ 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 not, it should be thoroughly dredged with flour, and served in a cloth kept for the purpose. In all cases drain it perfectly, and send to table on a folded napkin laid upon the platter.
In frying, fish should, like all fried articles, be immersed in the hot lard or drippings. Small fish can be fried whole; larger ones boned, and cut in small pieces. If they are egged and crumbed, the egg will form a covering, hardening at once, and absolutely impervious to fat. ”

“ Small fish may be fried whole, but large ones should be cut up. Have enough pork fat or lard bubbling hot in the frying-pan to well cover the fish. Smear the fish well with dry corn meal or flour, or, what is better, dip it into well-beaten egg and then into bread or cracker crumbs, and fry both sides to a clear golden brown. Sprinkle lightly with pepper and salt just as it is turning brown. ”

“ Add a tablespoonful of butter mixed with flour, some mace and white pepper to taste. Let boil up and serve hot.
Spanish Fried Fish Season and slice red fish; roll in flour and fry until brown. Then heat 1 tablespoonful of butter; add 1 chopped onion and 1 cup of tomatoes; let fry; add 1 tablespoonful of flour and 1 cup of water; also some parsley, salt, pepper and 1 bay-leaf chopped fine. Let all cook; then add the slices of fried fish. Let all get very hot and serve with boiled rice. ”

“ Pan-fish, as they are called,—flounders and small fish generally,—can also be fried by rolling in Indian meal or flour, and browning in the fat of salt pork.
Baking and broiling preserve the flavor most thoroughly.
Cold boiled fish can always be used, either by spicing as in the rule to be given, or by warming again in a little butter and water. Cold fried or broiled fish, can be put in a pan, and set in the oven till hot, this requiring not over ten minutes; a longer time giving a strong, oily taste, which spoils it. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Large pieces of salmon, conger eel, and other fish of considerable size are sometimes in common cookery baked like meat over potatoes pared and halved.
FAT FOR FRYING FISH. This, whether it be butter, lard, or oil should always be excellent in quality, for the finest fish will be rendered unfit for eating if it be fried in fat that is rancid. When good, and used in sufficient quantity, it will serve for the same purpose several times, if strained after each frying, and put carefully away in a clean pan, provided always that it has not been smoked nor burned in the using. ”

“ When you broil fish, rub the gridiron with lard or drippings, [Pg 154] to prevent its sticking. Do not attempt to turn it like steaks, with a knife and fork, but lay an old dish upon it, and hold it on with one hand, while you turn over the gridiron with the other. Lay the skin side down first.
Fish that is to be fried, should be cut up and laid in a cloth for an hour that the moisture may be absorbed. It should then be rolled in fine bread crumbs, or Indian meal. That which is apt to break in frying may be kept whole by being dipped in a beaten egg, before it is rolled in the bread crumbs. ”

“ Small fish, nicely fried in egg, and crumbs, make a dish of fish far more elegant than served plain. Great attention should be paid to garnishing fish; plenty of horseradish, parsley, and lemon.
When well done, and with very good sauce, fish is more attended to than almost any other dish. The liver and roe should be placed on the dish, so conspicuously that the lady may see them, and help a part to every one. ”

“ They enjoy trout as well as do the visitors, and of course, they are all expert cooks as well as boatmen. When noon-time comes, if there has been any luck, a camp-fire is built and the fish are fried, or broiled on the coals, or by experts, made into an excellent chowder. And never does one enjoy a fish dinner so much as under these circumstances. The exercise, the fresh air, the motion over the water, the deliciousness and delicate flavor of the fish, all conspire to tempt the most capricious appetite. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It is cooked enough when it easily cleaves from the bone, and is injured by cooking longer.
Put a napkin under, to absorb dampness, when boiled fish is laid on the dish.
To fry, dip in egg and bread crumbs, and use lard, not butter. Garnish with parsley.
Halibut is best cut in slices, and fried, or broiled. Bass are good every way. Black fish are best broiled or fried. Shad are best broiled, and sprinkle them with salt some hours before broiling. Salt shad and mackerel must be soaked over night for broiling. Sturgeons are best fried ”

“ Nothing can be less healthy or less agreeable to the taste at a summer dinner than fried food. The frying-pan should have been thrown into the fire long ago, and burned up.
The house-keeper living near the sea has an ample store to choose from in the toothsome crab, clam, lobster, and other crustacea. The fresh fish, the roast clams, etc., take the place of the devilled kidneys and broiled bones of the winter. But every housewife should study the markets of her neighborhood. ”

“ Frying fish in batter is often recommended, but it is not nearly so nice as egg-crumbing, and, indeed, when this is considered too troublesome or expensive, it is better merely to pass the fish through flour mixed with pepper and salt. Fish dipped in batter must be fried in a considerable quantity of fat, which, in small and poor households, it is generally impossible to procure. Egg-crumbed or dusted with flour, fish can be cooked in the frying-pan with a little fat, and is very good in this way. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Plunge the basket into a pan of clean, very hot lard, and fry rapidly over a bright fire for 3 or 4 minutes. Keep moving the basket all the time the frying goes on. Take up the basket, shake it so as to strain off the fat, and turn the fish on to a cloth or paper. Repeat this until all the whitebait are fried. Season with cayenne or black pepper, and fine salt. Dish up on a folded napkin or lace paper, and send the fish to table accompanied with quarters of lemon and thin slices of brown bread and butter. ”

“ 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. ”

“ For the sake of variety, if for no other reason, we should eat more fish; and it need not always be fried or broiled. A well-made fish stew or a curry should be acceptable to the majority of us, and undoubtedly would be if appetizingly prepared. ”

“ If it gives under your finger, like a bladder half filled with wind, the fish is poor; if it feels hard like butter, the fish is good. It is cheaper to buy one large mackerel for ninepence, than two for four pence half-penny each.
Fish should not be put in to fry until the fat is boiling hot; it is very necessary to observe this. It should be dipped in Indian meal before it is put in; and the skinny side uppermost, when first put in, to prevent its breaking. It relishes better to be fried after salt pork, than to be fried in lard alone. ”

“ The scales are said to be eatable, and in cleaning the fish these should not be removed, but the fish should be scoured in salted water. There seems to be a diversity of opinion concerning its flavor, but in the report of the U. S. Fish Commission we find it highly praised. The better way to cook this fish is to boil or bake, and the same recipes given for bass, sheepshead, or similar fish, are well suited to the carp.
No. 220. Fresh Cod Cheeks and Tongues.—These are very nice fried, either plain or rolled in crumbs or beaten egg. ”

“ If fat is too hot, fried food is injured in flavour and digestibility; if not hot enough the food will be greasy. If fish balls fall apart in the frying, it is because [86] the fish and potatoes were not well dried before adding the other ingredients.
Serves four or six persons.
Salt Fish Soufflé 1 cup salt codfish 1 heaping pt. potatoes 3 qts. water 21⁄2 tablespoons butter 7⁄8 cup milk 1⁄8 teaspoon pepper 2 eggs
Cook the fish and potatoes as for codfish balls. When drained and dried, add the butter, milk, pepper, and yolks of eggs; then the whites, beaten stiff. ”

“ Probably the best of all food for the fry is pounded shrimps or other crustaceans. It is, however, difficult in the very early stages of the trout's life to pound shrimps up small enough, and the little fish are much given to trying to swallow pieces of food which are too large for them to manage. This evil proclivity often causes the death of the fry, and therefore great care must be taken that no pieces of food which are too large, get into the rearing box. ”

“ A full-flavoured fish like the mackerel lends itself to a variety of methods of cooking, equally good results being obtained by baking, grilling, frying in fillets or boiling. The plaice, sole, ling, hake, mullet, and turbot are essentially fish for frying, while cod, haddock and whiting are best boiled. To prepare a fish for the table requires considerable skill, but it is an art that, once acquired, can be used to render even what are regarded as inferior varieties both wholesome and palatable. In this country, fishes have long been a neglected form of food. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 ”