Читать книгу The New Galt Cook Book - Various - Страница 42

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“The silvery fish,

Grazing at large in meadows submarine,

Fresh from the wave now cheers

Our festive board.”

Fish is either boiled, broiled, baked or fried. In all cases it is to be treated on the same principle as meat. When put to boil in cold water, fish, like meat, will part with its best substances, which will go to enrich the water it is cooked in. To make a soup of it, or a fish-jelly (which is very delicate), this would be the right way; but to boil fish that is to be eaten, it is necessary to put it into boiling water. To know the right moment when a fish is done is not such an easy affair as you might think. An underdone fish is disgusting, while an overdone one is tasteless and mostly tough. After fifteen minutes from the time a fish has been put on the fire one has to be on the watch. If the fish is small or thin it most likely will not stand a second’s longer cooking. If large it may need half an hour to be well done, or even more. Experience and a certain fine instinct have to guide you. One sign—and a pretty safe one—is to try a fin. If it gives way easily to a slight pull, the fish is done. Fish, like meat which is to be dished up, has to be kept simmering rather than boiling after its first immersion in lively boiling water. When it is to be cleaned it must not be kept soaking in cold water. Some salt-water fishes are better for sprinkling them with salt inside and outside for about one hour before cooking them. The salt, of course, has to be washed off again. Be sure that your fish is always as fresh as possible. Never buy a fish whose eyes are dull-looking, or the gills of which are not of a fine red color and the flesh firm and odorless.