Stewed Fish. — Any dry white fish or fresh-water fish
may be stewed, and made into a very palatable and eco-
nomical dish. Remove the skin, head, and bones from
a four-pound fish. Cover the bones and head with cold
water, and cook them for half an hour. Slice and scald
two small onions. Drain, and fry them till yellow, in the
fat obtained from a two-inch cube of salt pork. Pour it all
into the kettle with the bones. Cut the fish into pieces
two inches square, and season them with salt and pepper.
Put them in a clean kettle with a little butter to keep them
from sticking, and strain the boiling bone water over
them, using just enough to cover. Add the juice of half
a lemon., and when boiling thicken with one heaping table-
spoonful of butter and two of four cooked together. Sim-
mer fifteen minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste, and
one iablespoonful each of chopped parsley^ and tomato or
mushroom catchup., if desired ; or add one quart oi drained
oysters✪ Stewed Fish^ and simmer till the oysters are plump. A Matelote
of fish is the French name for fish stewed with wine.
Fish a la Creme.
Four to six pounds of fish., one to one and a half pints of
cream sauce ^ and one cup of cracker crumbs., moistened in
one third of a cup of melted butter✪ Fish a la Creme.
This is one of the most attractive and convenient
methods of serving any kind of dry white fish, — cod, had-
dock, or cusk. Clean the fish ; cook in boihng salted
water with one tablespoonful of vinegar till the flesh sepa-
rates easily. Drain, and when cool remove the skin and
bones, and pick apart in flakes. Sprinkle well with salt
and pepper. Make a rich white sauce. Put a layer of
fish on a platter suitable for serving. Cover with the
white sauce, letting the fish soak up all it will ; then arrange
The Boston Cook Book.
another layer of fish and sauce. Moisten cracker crumbs
in melted butter, and spread over the top with a fork.
Set the platter in the oven over a pan of hot water, to
keep the platter from cracking, and bake till the crumbs
are brown. Garnish with parsley. The ivhites of two or
three eggs^ beaten stiff and salted, are sometimes used in
the place of crumbs, but are not so palatable. Two or
three tahlespoonfuls of grated cheese may be mixed with
the crumbs, if you like the flavor.
The sauce may be mixed with the fish ; but be careful
not to mash the fish or get it too moist. Then the fish
may be piled on the platter, higher and broader at one
end and giving the outline of a flat fish ; or arranged in
the form of a fish shaped like the letter S, and covered
with the crumbs. Or, if the fish be not broken in boiling,
take it up carefully on the drainer, remove the head, skin,
and small bones from one side, put a platter over the fish
and invert platter and fish together ; then remove the
skin and the backbone from the other side, leaving the fish
as whole as possible. Cover with the sauce and crumbs,
and bake as above. This is not so desirable as the first
method, because some fine bones are liable to be over-
looked, and the sauce is not so well mixed with the fish.
Remnants of Cooked Fish.
Remnants of cold boiled or baked fish (using stuffing
and sauce also) may be freed from skin and bones, flaked,
and used in any of the following ways : —
Page 103 · 2 recipe records on this page
Presented as published in 1884. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Stewed Fish. — Any dry white fish or fresh-water fish may be stewed, and made into a very palatable and economical dish. Remove the skin, head, and bones from a four-pound fish. Cover the bones and head with cold water, and cook them for half an hour. Slice and scald two small onions. Drain, and fry them till yellow, in the fat obtained from a two-inch cube of salt pork. Pour it all into the kettle with the bones. Cut the fish into pieces two inches square, and season them with salt and pepper. Put them in a clean kettle with a little butter to keep them from sticking, and strain the boiling bone water over them, using just enough to cover. Add the juice of half a lemon. and when boiling thicken with one heaping tablespoonful of butter and two of four cooked together. Simmer fifteen minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste, and one tablespoonful each of chopped parsley and tomato or mushroom catchup, if desired ; or add one quart of drained oysters and simmer till the oysters are plump. A Matelote of fish is the French name for fish stewed with wine.
Fish a la Creme.
Four to six pounds of fish, one to one and a half pints of cream sauce and one cup of cracker crumbs, moistened in one third of a cup of melted butter.
This is one of the most attractive and convenient methods of serving any kind of dry white fish, — cod, haddock, or cusk. Clean the fish ; cook in boiling salted water with one tablespoonful of vinegar till the flesh separates easily. Drain, and when cool remove the skin and bones, and pick apart in flakes. Sprinkle well with salt and pepper. Make a rich white sauce. Put a layer of fish on a platter suitable for serving. Cover with the white sauce, letting the fish soak up all it will ; then arrange
The Boston Cook Book.
another layer of fish and sauce. Moisten cracker crumbs in melted butter, and spread over the top with a fork. Set the platter in the oven over a pan of hot water, to keep the platter from cracking, and bake till the crumbs are brown. Garnish with parsley. The whites of two or three eggs, beaten stiff and salted, are sometimes used in the place of crumbs, but are not so palatable. Two or three tablespoonfuls of grated cheese may be mixed with the crumbs, if you like the flavor.
The sauce may be mixed with the fish ; but be careful not to mash the fish or get it too moist. Then the fish may be piled on the platter, higher and broader at one end and giving the outline of a flat fish ; or arranged in the form of a fish shaped like the letter S, and covered with the crumbs. Or, if the fish be not broken in boiling, take it up carefully on the drainer, remove the head, skin, and small bones from one side, put a platter over the fish and invert platter and fish together ; then remove the skin and the backbone from the other side, leaving the fish as whole as possible. Cover with the sauce and crumbs, and bake as above. This is not so desirable as the first method, because some fine bones are liable to be overlooked, and the sauce is not so well mixed with the fish.
Remnants of Cooked Fish.
Remnants of cold boiled or baked fish (using stuffing and sauce also) may be freed from skin and bones, flaked, and used in any of the following ways : —
Records on this page
Stewed FishFish a la Creme