Common Sense in the Household 9

Common Sense in the Household 9

Make pickle enough to cover it in the following proportions: 2 quarts

vinegar, a dozen blades of mace, dozen white peppers, dozen cloves, two

teaspoonfuls made mustard, three tablespoonfuls white sugar, and a

pint of the water in which the fish was boiled. Let them boil up once

hard, that you may skim the pickle. Should the spices come away with

the scum in large quantities, pick them out and return to the kettle.

Set the liquor away in an earthenware jar, closely covered, to keep

in the flavor. Next morning hang it over a brisk fire in a bell-metal

kettle (covered), and heat to boiling. Meanwhile, prepare the salmon

by cutting into pieces an inch and a half long and half an inch wide.

Cut cleanly and regularly with a sharp knife. When they are all ready,

and the liquor is on the boil, drop them carefully into the kettle. Let

the pickle boil up once to make sure the salmon is heated through. Have

ready some air-tight glass jars, such as you use for canning fruit and

tomatoes. Take the salmon from the kettle, while it is still on the

stove or range, with a wire-egg-beater, taking care you do not break

the pieces. Drop them rapidly into the jar, packing closely as you go

on; fill with the boiling pickle until it overflows, screw on the top,

and set away in a dark, cool place. Proceed in the same way with each

can until all are full. Salmon thus put up will keep good for _years_,

as I can testify from experience, and will well repay the trouble of

preparation. You can vary the seasoning to your taste, adding a shallot

or two minced very fine, some celery and small pods of cayenne pepper,

which always _look_ well in vinegar.

 

Be sure that the contents of the kettle are boiling when transferred

to the cans, that they are not allowed time to cool in the transit,

that the elastic on the can is properly adjusted, and the top screwed

down tightly, and success is certain. I would call the attention of

those who are fond of the potted spiced salmon, sold at a high price in

grocery stores, to this receipt for making the same luxury at home. It

costs less by one-half, is as good, and is always on hand.

 

 

PICKLED SALMON. (_Salt._)

 

Wash the salmon in two or three waters, rubbing it lightly with a

coarse cloth to remove the salt-crystals. Then soak over night in tepid

water. Exchange this in the morning for ice-cold, and let the fish

lie in the latter for three hours. Take it out, wipe dry, and cut in

strips as directed in the foregoing receipt. Drop these, when all are

ready, in a saucepan of boiling water, placed alongside of a kettle of

pickle prepared as for fresh salmon. Beside these have your air-tight

jars, covers laid in readiness, and when the salmon has boiled five

minutes—fairly boiled, not simmered—fish out the pieces with your wire

spoon, pack rapidly into your can; fill up with the boiling pickle from

the other kettle, and seal instantly. In two days the pickled salmon

will be fit for use, and is scarcely distinguishable from that made of

fresh fish. It has the advantage of being always procurable, and of

comparative cheapness, and in the country is a valuable stand-by in

case of unexpected supper company.

 

 

SMOKED SALMON. (_Broiled._)

 

Take a piece of raw smoked salmon the size of your hand, or larger in

proportion to the number who are to sit down to supper. Wash it in two

waters, rubbing off the salt. Lay in a skillet with enough warm—not

hot—water to cover it; let it simmer fifteen minutes, and boil five.

Remove it, wipe dry, and lay on a buttered gridiron to broil. When

it is nicely browned on both sides, transfer to a hot dish; butter

liberally, and pepper to taste. Garnish with hillocks of grated

horse-radish interspersed with sprays of fresh or pickled fennel-seed,

or with parsley.

 

Raw smoked salmon is in common use upon the supper-table, cut into

smooth strips as long as the middle finger, and rather wider; arranged

neatly upon a garnished dish, and eaten with pepper-sauce or some other

pungent condiment.

 

 

BOILED SHAD. (_Fresh._) ✠

 

Clean, wash, and wipe the fish. A roe shad is best for this purpose.

Cleanse the roes thoroughly, and having sprinkled both shad and eggs

with salt, wrap in separate cloths and put into a fish-kettle, side

by side. Cover with salted water, and boil from half an hour to

three-quarters, in proportion to the size. Experience is the best rule

as to the time. When you have once cooked fish to a turn, note the

weight and time, and you will be at no loss thereafter. A good rule

is to make a pencilled memorandum in the margin of the receipt-book

opposite certain receipts.

 

Serve the shad upon a hot dish, with a boat of drawn butter mingled

with chopped eggs and parsley, or egg-sauce. Lay the roes about the

body of the fish. Garnish with capers and slices of hard boiled eggs.

 

 

BOILED SHAD. (_Salt._)

 

Soak the fish six or seven hours in warm water, changing it several

times; wipe off all the salt and immerse in ice-cold water. When it has

lain in this an hour, put into a fish-kettle with enough fresh water to

cover it, and boil from fifteen to twenty minutes, in proportion to the

size. Serve in a hot dish, with a large lump of butter spread over the

fish.

 

 

BROILED SHAD. (_Fresh._) ✠

 

Wash, wipe, and split the fish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and lay

it upon a buttered gridiron, inside downward. When the lower side is

browned, turn the fish. One of medium size will be done in about twenty

minutes. Serve upon a hot dish, and lay a good piece of butter upon

the fish.

 

 

BROILED SHAD. (_Salt._)

 

Soak over night in lukewarm water. Take out in the morning and transfer

to ice-cold for half an hour. Wipe very dry, and broil as you do fresh

shad.

 

 

FRIED SHAD.

 

This is a popular dish upon Southern tables, and is good anywhere.

Clean, wash, and wipe a fine roe-shad; split and cut each side into

four pieces, leaving out the head, and removing fins and tail. Sprinkle

with salt and pepper, and dredge with flour. Have ready a frying pan of

boiling hot lard or drippings; put in the fish and fry brown, turning

at the end of five minutes to cook the other side. Fry the roe in the

same way; lay the fish in the middle of the dish, and the roe outside

of it; garnish with water-cresses and sprigs of pickled cauliflower,

and eat with catsup.

 

 

BAKED SHAD. ✠

 

Clean, wash, and wipe the fish, which should be a large one. Make a

stuffing of grated bread-crumbs, butter, salt, pepper, and sweet herbs.

Stuff the shad and sew it up. Lay it in the baking-pan, with a cupful

of water to keep it from burning, and bake an hour, basting with butter

and water, until it is tender throughout and well browned. Take it up,

put in a hot dish and cover tightly, while you boil up the gravy with

a great spoonful of catsup, a tablespoonful of browned flour which has

been wet with cold water, the juice of a lemon, and, if you want to

have it very fine, a glass of Sherry or Madeira. Garnish with sliced

lemon and water-cresses. You may pour the gravy around the fish, or

serve in a sauce-boat. Of course you take out the thread with which it

has been sewed up before serving the fish.

 

 

BOILED SEA-BASS.

 

Clean and put the fish into the fish-kettle, with salted water

enough to cover it when you have enveloped it in the fish-cloth. A

medium-sized fish will be done in a little over half an hour. But do

not boil too fast. When done, drain and serve in a hot dish. Lay sliced

boiled eggs upon and about it, and serve with egg-sauce, mingled with

capers and nasturtium seed.

 

 

FRIED SEA-BASS.

 

Use smaller fish for this purpose than for boiling. Clean, wipe dry,

inside and out, dredge with flour and season with salt. Fry in hot

butter or dripping. A mixture, half butter, half lard, is good for

frying fish. The bass should be done to a delicate brown—not to a

crisp. The fashion affected by some cooks of drying fried fish to a

crust is simply abominable.

 

Fried bass are a most acceptable breakfast dish.

 

 

STURGEON STEAK.

 

Skin the steaks carefully and lay in salted water (cold) for an hour,

to remove the oily taste, so offensive to most palates. Then wipe each

steak dry, salt, and broil over hot coals on a buttered gridiron. Serve

in a hot dish when you have buttered and peppered them, and send up

garnished with parsley and accompanied by a small glass dish containing

sliced lemon.

 

 

_Or,_

 

You can pour over them a sauce prepared in this way:—

 

Put a tablespoonful of butter into a frying-pan, and stir until it is

brown—_not_ burned. Add a half-teacupful of boiling water in which has

been stirred a tablespoonful of browned flour previously wet with cold

water. Add salt, a teaspoonful Worcestershire sauce or anchovy, the

juice of a lemon, and let it boil up well. Pour over the steaks when

you have arranged them in the dish.

 

 

BAKED STURGEON.

 

A piece of sturgeon weighing five or six pounds is enough for a

handsome dish. Skin it and let it stand in salt and water for half an

hour. Parboil it to remove the oil. Make a dressing of bread-crumbs,

minute bits of fat salt pork, sweet herbs, and butter. Gash the upper

part of the fish quite deeply, and rub this force-meat well in; put in

a baking-pan with a little water to keep it from burning, and bake for an hour.