Читать книгу A Course of Lectures on the Principles of Domestic Economy and Cookery - Juliet Corson - Страница 9

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The potatoes are peeled and sliced in rather small slices of even size; put them over the fire in enough salted boiling water to cover them, boil them until they begin to grow tender; not till they break, but just till they begin to grow tender; after the potatoes are boiled tender drain them, and suppose you have a pint bowl full of potatoes, use about two heaping tablespoonfuls of butter; melt the butter in a scant half cupful of milk. When the butter is melted put the potatoes into it, and with a spoon lift them very carefully from the bottom, always without breaking them, until they have absorbed the milk and butter; then season them with salt and white pepper, and they will be ready to serve. Season them palatably; I could not give you the quantity of seasoning because it would depend upon the salt that the potatoes had absorbed from the water. You should taste them first before seasoning at all, and then if they need any more salt add a very little at a time. If you simply want the potatoes nicely stewed you don’t add so much butter, a scant tablespoonful, and milk enough to moisten them; but this receipt is an exceedingly nice one—rather rich, but very nice.

(At this point the fish was done, and Miss Corson continued.)

You notice, ladies, that I take off the skin of the fish before taking it up. That is very easy; it slips off easily, and without it the fish is much nicer to serve at the table. In serving sauce with fish you pour some around it, not over it; or you serve the fish on a napkin, and the sauce in a dish, as you prefer. If you serve the fish in a folded napkin garnish it with a few sprigs of parsley, if you can get them, or with a lemon sliced, if you do not live—as some unfortunate people do—“fifty miles from a lemon.” Lemons are very nice always with any kind of fish. Parsley can be bought here all winter long. I have learned that from the advertisements in the papers already; and a little of it makes a great difference in the appearance of a dish.

Question. Can you tell us how we can tell whether a frozen fish is stale or fresh?

Miss Corson. You can after you have thawed it in cold water; you can tell by the smell. (Laughter.) The way to thaw frozen fish is to put it into perfectly cold water and keep it in a cold place until all the frost is drawn out. Of course the most of the fish in this market would be frozen in the winter. This one has been frozen.

Question. Can you tell us how to carve a whole fish?

Miss Corson. You would have a rather sharp knife and spoon; a fish knife, though it looks pretty, is not good to serve fish with because it is apt to be dull; you want a knife that will cut down through the fish without tearing it, without attempting to cut down through the bone, unless you know where the joints are located.

Question. Would you cook a fish with the fins?

Miss Corson. The latest fancy of fish lovers in New York, the members of the Ichthyophagous Club, who are supposed to be the leaders in the fashions of fish, is to have the fish served with the fins, head and tail on; and with some fish they want even the scales; and then they simply lift off the skin, the entire skin, before they begin to serve it. They have the fish thoroughly washed and drawn, and then cooked with the scales and fins on. You can judge how easy it would be to do that, because you saw how easily that skin came off this fish. The skin comes off-easily if the fish is properly cooked—cooked enough.

Question. What kind of fish can be cooked with the scales on?

Miss Corson. I think the black bass, and some kinds of sea fish. The idea is that if the fish are not scaled they will keep their flavor; a fish properly dressed retains enough of its flavor even if it is scalded before it is cooked.