By frying fish we mean immersing it in hot fat. The fish
should be well cleaned, dried with a soft cloth, and seasoned with
pepper and salt; then rub it with flour, dip it in beaten egg, and
then sprinkle with fine bread or cracker crumbs; sometimes wheat
flour or Indian corn=meal are used, but fully cover the fish so* that
there are no cracks. Then fry it in smoking hot fat like doughnuts,
and as directed elsewhere under "The Processes of Cooking." It
should be fried a rich golden brown. A sheet of paper can be
placed to receive it after it is fried, that it may be free from all
grease. Some cooks lay it in the oven for a moment, and then serve.
Time to Cook. — A very little time is all that is needed to cook it
(from 2 to 5 minutes) if the fat is the right temperature; a general
mistake is to overcook it.
Do not fry oily fish, like mackerel, salmon, etc. Halibut, cod,
etc., can be skinned, boned, and cut into small pieces, and then
fried. Fish✪ Fried Fish which is very cold should be slightly warmed first, or it
will chill the fat and become greasy. Fish thus fried is nicer than
by the common method of frying in the frying=pan; try it once, if
you never have.
Fish is also sometimes fried in batter. The fish should be dried,
seasoned with pepj)er and salt, dipped in the batter, and quickly put
FISH
55
into the hot fat. The batter must be smooth and thick. As soon as
the batter is of a bright golden color, take it out, and if the fish is
thick, put it in the oven for a few minutes. The fat is more than
100° hotter than boiling water, and the inside part of whatever is
cooked in it goes on cooking after it is taken out of the fat.
For frying in the frying-pan or sauUing, butter is not desira-
ble, as it scorches too easily and gives a bad odor to any fish that re-
quires long cooking. Small brook^trout, however, are sometimes
cooked in butter in the frying=pan. For ordinary sized pan-fish, or
slices of large fish, the fat from a few thin slices of salt pork is excel-
lent; the thin scraps of fried pork are used with other garnishing,
around the fish on the platter.
Garnish fried fish with parsley, lemon, pickle, etc., and serve
with any acid sauce, like tomato or tartare. Small fish should be ar-
ranged with heads and tails alternating. Arrange fillets in a circle,
one overlapping the other.
BAKED FISH.
Clean, dry, and stuff the fish with one of the stuffings given be-
low, and sew it. Long, narrow fish bake best if a trussing needle is
run through the side of the
head, then the middle of the
■body, and then the tail, in such
a way as to form the fish into
the shape of a letter S as shown
in the accompanying illustra-
tion; it will then rest on its bel-
ly while baking, instead of
on its side. Shad or other ✪ Baked Fish
Page 39 · 2 recipe records on this page
Presented as published in 1902. 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
By frying fish we mean immersing it in hot fat. The fish should be well cleaned, dried with a soft cloth, and seasoned with pepper and salt; then rub it with flour, dip it in beaten egg, and then sprinkle with fine bread or cracker crumbs; sometimes wheat flour or Indian corn-meal are used, but fully cover the fish so* that there are no cracks. Then fry it in smoking hot fat like doughnuts, and as directed elsewhere under "The Processes of Cooking." It should be fried a rich golden brown. A sheet of paper can be placed to receive it after it is fried, that it may be free from all grease. Some cooks lay it in the oven for a moment, and then serve.
Time to Cook. — A very little time is all that is needed to cook it (from 2 to 5 minutes) if the fat is the right temperature; a general mistake is to overcook it.
Do not fry oily fish, like mackerel, salmon, etc. Halibut, cod, etc., can be skinned, boned, and cut into small pieces, and then fried. Fish which is very cold should be slightly warmed first, or it will chill the fat and become greasy. Fish thus fried is nicer than by the common method of frying in the frying-pan; try it once, if you never have.
Fish is also sometimes fried in batter. The fish should be dried, seasoned with pepper and salt, dipped in the batter, and quickly put
into the hot fat. The batter must be smooth and thick. As soon as the batter is of a bright golden color, take it out, and if the fish is thick, put it in the oven for a few minutes. The fat is more than 100° hotter than boiling water, and the inside part of whatever is cooked in it goes on cooking after it is taken out of the fat.
For frying in the frying-pan or sauteing, butter is not desirable, as it scorches too easily and gives a bad odor to any fish that requires long cooking. Small brook-trout, however, are sometimes cooked in butter in the frying-pan. For ordinary sized pan-fish, or slices of large fish, the fat from a few thin slices of salt pork is excellent; the thin scraps of fried pork are used with other garnishing, around the fish on the platter.
Garnish fried fish with parsley, lemon, pickle, etc., and serve with any acid sauce, like tomato or tartare. Small fish should be arranged with heads and tails alternating. Arrange fillets in a circle, one overlapping the other.
BAKED FISH.
Clean, dry, and stuff the fish with one of the stuffings given below, and sew it. Long, narrow fish bake best if a trussing needle is run through the side of the head, then the middle of the ■body, and then the tail, in such a way as to form the fish into the shape of a letter S as shown in the accompanying illustration; it will then rest on its belly while baking, instead of on its side. Shad or other
Records on this page
Fried FishBaked Fish