Mackerel au Gratin

Ingredients

• a pair of soles
• a bunch of parsley
• half a shallot
• eight small mushrooms
• a slice of stale bread
• a little pepper
• a little salt
• a teaspoonful of lemon-juice
• a gill of strong stock

Method

1. 1

   Wash the fish in cold water and wipe them in a cloth.

2. 2

   Cut off the heads and tails and open them down the back.

3. 3

   Lay the mackerel on a board and draw out the bones.

4. 4

   Be careful also to remove the dark substance which lies close to the backbone near the head.

5. 5

   Wash and pick a bunch of parsley; chop it finely.

6. 6

   Mix it with a piece of onion, bread-crumbs, mixed herbs, pepper, salt, and lemon juice.

7. 7

   Sprinkle the mixture on the inner part of one mackerel, lay the other on top, place in a greased tin, cover, and bake in a moderate oven for half an hour.

8. 8

   Baste occasionally with dripping.

Nutrition per serving

Estimated from matched ingredients across 2 servings.

As published

This recipe was extracted from A year's cookery (1880) by Phillis Browne, page 139. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

Mackerel au Gratin. Suet Dumpling, with Jam. Milk Soup. Cold Beef. Salad. Baked Potatoes. Pickles. Cocoa-nut Pudding. Cheese. and Butter. Bread and Milk Marketing For the Day.— -Two moderate-sized Mackerel (April 4th) ; half a pound of firm Beef Kidney Suet ; two heads of Cabbage Lettuce ; a pennyworth of small Salad; a half-penny worth of boiled Beet-root; two-pennyworth of Water¬ cress {half of the last is for breakfast to-morrow) ; a good-sized Cocoa-nut or a tin of Desiccated Cocoa-nut ; Potatoes ; a pennyworth of Parsley. For To-morrow.— A pair of thick Soles ( January 3rd) ; a Fore-quarter of Lamb ; Asparagus ; new Potatoes ; Mint, for sauce ; three-pennyworth of Cream, if permitted ; either a small tin of Mushrooms or two good-sized Mushrooms. For May 4th.— German Sausage. Breakfast. — Sardines (January 12th) ; Potted Pheasant {see Re¬ marks on Potted Grouse, January 7th); Vienna Bread (August 26th) ; Bread and Milk (January 25th). Luncheon. — Mackerel au Gratin. — Wash the fish in cold water and wipe them in a cloth. Cut off the heads and tails and open them down the back. Lay the mackerel on a board and draw out the bones. Be careful also to remove the dark substance which lies close to the backbone near the head, as this often imparts a bitter taste to the fish. Wash and pick a bunch of parsley ; chop it finely, fasten it in the corner of a cloth, dip it in cold water, and wring it dry. This second washing is intended to remove its acrid taste. Chop small a piece of onion the size of a large, bean, mix it with the parsley, and add a dessert-spoonful of finely-grated bread-crumbs, a tea¬ spoonful of mixed herbs — lemon, thyme, and marjoram — a little pepper and salt, and a few drops of lemon-juice. Sprinkle the mixture upon the inner part of one mackerel, and lay the other mackerel upon it. Put the fish thus placed one on the top of the other in a greased tin ; lay small pieces of dripping here and there upon them, cover with a dish or greased paper, and bake in a moderate oven for half an hour. Baste occasionally with the dripping. Lift the fish carefully upon a hot dish and serve. Fresh herrings are very good dressed in this way. Suet Dumpling (May 13th). Dinner. — Milk Soup (January 3rd) ; Cold Beef left from yester¬ day ; Salad (March 13th); Baked Potatoes (May 4th); Cocoa-nut Pudding (August 8th) ; Cheese (June 8thi 174 A YEAR'S COOKERY. Things that must not be Forgotten. 1. Reduce the liquor in which the beef was boiled and glaze the beef (March 21st). 2. Make rissoles for breakfast to-morrow of the cold beef left yesterday (January 6th). 3. Chop the mint and put sugar upon it for mint sauce (March 25th). Sunday, May 3rd. Breakfast. Dinner. Tea. Supper. Rissoles. Potted Pheasant. Vienna Bread. Dry Toast. Brown and White Bread and Butter. Watercress. Corn Flour Milk. Sole au Gratin. Fore - quarter of Lamb. Mint Sauce. New Potatoes. Asparagus. Hayrick Puddings. Cheese. Vienna Bread. Brown and White Bread and Butter. Rice Cake. Damson Jana. Pressed Beef. Potato Salad. Rhubarb Tart. Cheese. Breakfast. — Rissoles (January 6th) ; Potted Pheasant ( see Re¬ marks on Potted Grouse, January 7th); Vienna Bread (August 26th) ; Corn Flour Milk (June 19th). Dinner. — Sole au Gratin. — For a pair of soles mix on a plate a bunch of parsley washed in two waters (Mackerel au Gratin, May 2nd), half a shallot, and either eight small mushrooms or two large ones, all chopped small. Rub a slice of stale bread through a wire sieve, put the crumbs on a tin, and brown them in the oven. Wash the soles and dry them in a cloth. Cut off the outside fins with a sharp knife, nick through the skin across the head and tail, push the little finger up to loosen the skin, and draw it off on both sides. Grease a tin large enough to hold the fish side by side, sprinkle half the chopped mushroom on it, and add a little pepper and salt and a few drops of lemon-juice. Nick the soles in two or three places, and lay them, the nicked side uppermost, on the tin. Sprinkle the rest of the mixture upon them, with a little pepper and salt and a tea-spoonful of lemon-juice, and the browned bread-crumbs. Lay little pieces of butter here and there on the top, and pour over last of all a gill of strong stock

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