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Personal Chef Recipes - by Mrs Beeton
COD'S HEAD AND SHOULDERS.
| Ingredients: | Sufficient water to cover the fish; 5 oz. of salt to
each gallon of water.
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| Method: | Cleanse the fish thoroughly, and rub a little salt over the
thick part and inside of the fish, 1 or 2 hours before dressing it, as
this very much improves the flavour. Lay it in the fish-kettle, with
sufficient cold water to cover it. Be very particular not to pour the
water on the fish, as it is liable to break it, and only keep it just
simmering. If the water should boil away, add a little by pouring it in
at the side of the kettle, and not on the fish. Add salt in the above
proportion, and bring it gradually to a boil. Skim very carefully, draw
it to the side of the fire, and let it gently simmer till done. Take it
out and drain it; serve on a hot napkin, and garnish with cut lemon,
horseradish, the roe and liver. (_See_ Coloured Plate C.)
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| Time: | According to size, 1/2 an hour, more or less. |
| Notes: | Oyster sauce and plain melted butter should be served with
this.
TO CHOOSE COD.--The cod should be chosen for the table when it is plump
and round near the tail, when the hollow behind the head is deep, and
when the sides are undulated as if they were ribbed. The glutinous parts
about the head lose their delicate flavour, after the fish has been
twenty-four hours out of the water. The great point by which the cod
should be judged is the firmness of its flesh; and, although the cod is
not firm when it is alive, its quality may be arrived at by pressing the
finger into the flesh. If this rises immediately, the fish is good; if
not, it is stale. Another sign of its goodness is, if the fish, when it
is cut, exhibits a bronze appearance, like the silver side of a round of
beef. When this is the case, the flesh will be firm when cooked.
Stiffness in a cod, or in any other fish, is a sure sign of freshness,
though not always of quality. Sometimes, codfish, though exhibiting
signs of rough usage, will eat much better than those with red gills, so
strongly recommended by many cookery-books. This appearance is generally
caused by the fish having been knocked about at sea, in the well-boats,
in which they are conveyed from the fishing-grounds to market.
233. |
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Source: The Book of Household Management Mrs. Isabella Mary Beeton |
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