Red Mullet a la Maitre d’Hotel

Ingredients

• three or four fresh red mullets
• three or four table-spoonfuls of salad oil
• a sprig of parsley
• a sprig of tarragon
• one of chervil finely chopped
• one tea-spoonful of lemon juice
• a pinch of salt
• pepper
• 1 oz. of fresh butter

Method

1. 1

   Procure three or four fresh red mullets, wipe them with a damp cloth, and make incisions across each fish.

2. 2

   Pour over salad oil, season, and let stand for about one hour.

3. 3

   Prepare maitre d' hotel butter by mixing butter with chopped parsley, tarragon, chervil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.

4. 4

   Shape into pats and chill.

5. 5

   Place the mullet in a buttered paper bag, fold and fasten, then cook in a hot oven for about 25 minutes.

6. 6

   Serve with parsley butter on top.

As published

This recipe was extracted from The paper-bag cookery manual (1911) by Charles Herman Senn, page 15. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

Red Mullet a la Maitre d’Hotel. Procure three or four fresh red mullets, wipe them with a damp cloth, and make three or four incisions across each fish with a sharp knife. Put the fish on a dish, pour over three or four table -spoonfuls of salad oil, season with salt and pepper, and let them stand thus for about one hour. Meanwhile, prepare some maitre d' hotel butter as follows : — Mix 1 oz. of fresh butter with one dessert-spoonful of chopped parsley, a sprig of tarragon and one of chervil finely chopped, one tea- spoonful of lemon juice, a pinch of salt and pepper. Spread on a plate, put on the ice, and shape into pats when quite firm. Put the mullet in a well buttered paper bag, fold in the ends and fasten with clips, then place on a grid shelf in a hot oven, and cook for about 25 minutes. Put the fish on a hot dish, place the parsley butter on top, and serve. Steamed Whiting. Skin two or three small whiting, treat them the same as for frying, and curl up. Place them in a well buttered “ Express ” paper-bag, season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle over each a little lemon juice. Fold over the end of the bag and fasten with clips, then cook for about 15 minutes on a grid shelf in a hot oven. Take the fish out of the paper-bag, place it on a^ hot dish, garnish with quarters of lemon and sprigs of fresh parsley, and serve. THE PAPEE-BAG COOKEBY MANUAL. 4a Fried Whiting. Cut off the fins of three or four whiting, skin them (commencing at the head), take out the eyes, and put the tail through the mouth. Dredge each with flour and season with salt and pepper, next brush over with beaten egg and >'oll in bread crumbs. Have ready a well oiled or thickly buttered “Express” paper-bag, put in it the fish with about 2 ozs. of clarified butter, fold in the end of the bag and fasten with clips. Place the bag carefully on a wire grid in a very hot oven, and cook for about 15 minutes. Dish up, garnish with parsley and lemon, and serve hot. Baked Fillets of Whiting. Skin three whitings, remove the fillets carefully, sprinkle over with lemon juice, and fold each over; range them in a double row in a well buttered “Express” paper- bag. Season with pepper and salt, moisten with a little white wine and some mush- room liquor. Place a row of thinly sliced, preserved mushrooms on the fillets, and sprinkle over with fine bread crumbs (fresh or dried), put a tiny piece of butter here and there on top; fold in the end of the bag, fasten with clips, and bake on a grid shelf in a moderately heated oven for about 15 minutes. When done, open the bag, dish up the fish, and sprinkle over a little finely chopped parsley ; serve hot. 44 THE PAPER-BAG COOKERY MANUAL. Whiting a la Meuniere. Procure two, or more, medium -sized whitings, skin them the same as for frying, season with salt and pepper, and dip in flour ; brush over with beaten egg, then slip each fish carefully into a well buttered “Express” paper-bag, and pour a tea- spoonful of clarified butter over each fish. Fold over the end of the bag and fasten with clips; place on a grid in the oven and cook from 10 to 12 minutes, according to the size of the fish. To serve, slit open the bag and place the fish on to a hot dish, pour over the butter remaining in the bag, sprinkle with finely chopped parsley, and serve hot. Fish Cakes. Take half a pound of cold fish, freed from skin and bones, half a pound of cooked potatoes, 1 oz. of butter or dripping, two table-spoonfuls of milk, salt and pepper, one egg, and bread crumbs. Chop the fish finely; mash the potatoes and mix them with the fish, season with salt and pepper ; melt the butter or dripping, add the fish, etc., to it, then mix all together with the milk. Shape the mixture into small flat cakes of even size. Beat up the egg on a plate, then egg and bread-crumb the cakes, and again shape. Now put them into a well buttered “Express” paper-bag, close up the end, and fasten with wire clips ; put into a very hot oven on a grid shelf and cook for about 20 minutes; turn the THE PAPER-BAG COOKERY MANUAL. 45 bag twice during the cooking process. Cut open the bag with scissors, and place the fish cakes on to a hot dish; garnish with sprigs of parsley

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