Christmas Carp in Poland

Ingredients

• a good-sized live fish
• a layer of sliced onions
• a layer of parsley roots
• a bay-leaf
• half white wine
• half hydromel
• two lemons
• 1 teacupful of ground almonds
• a similar quantity of currants

Method

1. 1

   Prepare the fish by bleeding and cleaning it.

2. 2

   Cut into pieces and layer with onions and parsley in a stewpan.

3. 3

   Season and add wine and hydromel.

4. 4

   Boil for ten minutes, then simmer until done.

5. 5

   Strain stock, remove fat, thicken, and add lemons, almonds, and currants.

6. 6

   Serve over the Carp.

As published

This recipe was extracted from The encyclopædia of practical cookery (1890) by Theodore Francis Garrett, page 153. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

Christmas Carp in Poland. — The fish cooked in this way is the traditional dish of the feast celebrated on Christmas eve by the Poles and Italians. Take a good-sized live fish, and run a knife through the head to let it bleed, catching the blood in a basin ; then remove the scales and clean the fish thoroughly, putting the soft roe in vinegar and water to blanch. Cut the fish up into equal pieces. Take a stewpan, cover the bottom with a layer of sliced onions and parsley roots, and put the fish in upon this, salting it a little, and adding sprigs of parsley, thyme, a bay-leaf, some peppercorns and cloves, and pouring in (to about half the height of the fish) a mixture of half white wine and half hydromel (honey wine or mead). Put the pan on a brisk fire, and boil for ten minutes, then remove it to a moro moderate one to finish cooking. When the Carp is done, take it out, strain the stock into another stewpan, remove the fat, and boil again, thickening with a small piece of kneaded butter. Let it boil for fifteen minutes, then pass it through a sieve, and add two lemons (without the peel), cut in slices, 1 teacupful of ground almonds, and a similar quantity of currants

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.