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Court Bouillon

From Mrs. Roundell's Practical cookery book, 1898

Serves 8

This broth is used for boiling fish, enhancing flavor.

Presented as published in 1898. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation below, not the original instructions.

A modern interpretation · AI-generated from the original record

Ingredients

Method

As published

This recipe was extracted from Mrs. Roundell's Practical cookery book (1898) by Roundell, Charles Mrs, page 63. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

Court Bouillon (see page 102), with the addition of a handful of sliced horseradish root, the rind of a lemon, and “ a handsome little faggot of rosemary, thyme, and winter savoury.” Trout Cooked Highland Fashion. — Clean, scale, wash, and dry each fish. Dust each with salt, but use no pepper. Roll each Trout in fine dry oatmeal, and broil them one by one on the hot gridiron. Drain the Trout on clean white blotting- paper, and serve side by side in a hot dish. The bars of the gridiron must be well buttered or oiled. Or the Trout can be fried singly in boiling suet, allowing from six to eight minutes for each, according to size. Sea Trout. — Never boil a Sea Trout. Grill it, dusted with pepper and salt, as above. Or cook it in the Dutch oven, according to Sir Henry Thompson’s method. If sauce is liked, use mayonnaise. Grayling. — The Grayling is found in the same rivers as the Trout, but it is a smaller fish. Grayling should be cooked like Trout, except that the scales must be removed, which is not done with Trout. Izaak Walton thought most highly of the Grayling, considering it to be “ very medicinable.” He says that “ the Salmon, the Grayling, and the Trout, and all “ fish that live in clear and shai’p streams, are made by their “ mother Nature of such exact shape and pleasant colours “ purposely to invite us to a joy and contentedness in feasting “ with her.” Gudgeons. — Gudgeons do not live, like Trout and Grayling, on flies, but find their food among the stones at the bottom of clear rivers. Izaak Walton commends Gudgeons as being “ of excellent taste and nourishment, and very wholesome.” Gudgeons are best when rather small. They should be GUDGEONS iox lightly rolled in flour or oatmeal, and fried. Before flouring, dip each Gudgeon in milk. Or Gudgeons can be split open, buttered, seasoned with pepper and salt, and either broiled on the gridiron or cooked in the Dutch oven. Fried Gudgeons were a special dish at the celebrated York House Hotel at Bath, and at the Pavilion Henri Quatre at St. Germain, near Paris. Lampreys and Lamperns. — The best Lamperns are caught in the Severn at "Worcester, and do not exceed fifteen inches in length. Lampreys are much larger, sometimes twenty-eight inches long, and are found in the sea as well as in rivers. Both fish are most indigestible, but some people con- sider them great delicacies. They should be thoroughly cleaned in boiling salted water, dried, and gently rubbed over with mixed white spices. Let the fish lie for twenty-four hours. Then put them to simmer very gently in the liquor which has run from them. If this is not enough, add some strong fish broth. When the fish are nearly done add a glass of port wine to the broth. Lamperns are served whole. Lampreys are cut up like eels. They are bluish in colour, and very rich. Henry the First died after eating freely of Lam- pems. Carp. — River Carp are infinitely superior to the muddy, sleepy Carp of Ponds. They are best baked like a Pike, and will take an hour. Or the Carp may be filleted and fried, or plainly grilled. The roe should be taken out and used separately as a savoury. POND FISH. French people, partly on account of the distance of many parts of France from the sea, and partly on account of the preservation in France of the fish-ponds and moats which disappeared in England with the abbeys and monasteries, make much more use of Pond Fish than we do. They are apt to hide the tastelessness of Pond Fish by all sorts of stuffings and garnishes, and even by larding, but French cooks have two excellent rules which we should do well to follow. One of these is never to boil Pond Fish (or indeed any Fish) in plain 102 POND FISH water, but in a vegetable brotb called a Court Bouillon. For this, take four ounces of carrots and the same of onions, one ounce of parsley, a teaspoonful of thyme and the same of basil, one ounce of butter, and the same quantity of salt. Stir over the fire for ten minutes, and then add two quarts of water, and either half a pint of French vinegar or a quarter of a pint of white wine, such as sauterne or hock, and a quarter of a pint of water
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Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.