 East Kent Coast Sea Fishing Compendium |
The Art of Cookery |
The Art of Cookery made plain and easy
which far exceeds anything of the kind yet published
(1747) Hannah Glasse
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(only seafood recipes are here transcribed)
At page i
To the Reader
I believe I have attempted a branch of cookery which nobody has yet thought worth their while to write upon: but as I have both seen, and found, by experience, that the generality of servants are greatly wanting in that point; therefore I have taken upon me to instruct them in the best manner I am capable; and, I dare say , that every servant who can but read will be capable of making a tolerable good cook, and those who have the least notion of cookery cannot miss of being very good ones.
If I have not wrote in the high polite style, I hope I shall be forgiven for my intention is to instruct the lower sort and therefore must treat them in their own way. For example: when I bid them lard a fowl, if I should bid them lard with large lardoons, they would not know what I meant; but when I say they must lard with little pieces of bacon, they know what I mean. So, in many other things in cookery, the great cooks have such a high way of expressing themselves, that the poor girls are at a loss to know what they mean: and in all receipt books yet printed, there are such an odd jumble of things as would quite spoil a good dish; and indeed some things so extravagant that it would be almost a shame to make use of them, when a dish can be made full as good, or better, without them.
… at pages iii and iv
A Frenchman in his own country will dress a fine dinner of twenty dishes, and all genteel and pretty, for the expense he will put an English lord to for dressing one dish. But then there is the little petty profit. I have heard of a cook that used six pounds of butter to fry twelve eggs; when everybody knows (that understands cooking) that half a pound is full enough, or more than need be used: but then it would not be French. So much is the blind folly of this age, that they would rather be imposed on by a French booby, than give encouragement to a good English cook !
I doubt I shall not gain the esteem of those gentlemen; however, let that be as it will, it little concerns me; but should I be so happy as to gain the good opinion of my own sex, I desire no more; that will be full recompense for all my trouble and I only beg the favour of every lady to read my book throughout before they censure me, and then I flatter myself I shall have their approbation.
I shall not take upon me to meddle in the physical way farther than two receipts which will be of use to the public in general: one is for the bite of a mad dog: and the other, if a man should be near where the plague is, he shall be in no danger; which if made use of, would be found of very great service to those who go abroad.
Nor shall l take upon me to direct a lady in the economy of her family; for every mistress does, or at least ought to know, what is most proper to be done there; therefore I shall not fill my book with a deal of nonsense of that kind, which I am very well assured none will have regard to.
I have indeed given some of my dishes French names to distinguish them, because they are known by those names: and where there is great variety of dishes and a large table to cover, so there must be variety of names for them; and it matters not whether they be called by a French, Dutch, or English name, as they are good, and done with as little expense as the dish will allow of.
I shall say no more, only hope my book will answer the ends I intend it for which is to improve the servants and save the ladies a great deal of trouble.
Chapter V
To dress fish
At page 90
As to boiled fish of all sorts, you have full directions in the Lent chapter but here we can fry fish much better because we have beef dripping or hog's lard.
Observe always in the frying of any sort of fish; first, that you dry your fish very well in a clean cloth; then flour it. Let your stew-pan you fry them in be very nice and dean, and put in as much beef dripping, or hog's lard as will almost cover your fish; and be sure it boils before you put in your fish. Let it fry quick, and let be a fine light brown, but not too dark a colour. Have your fish slice ready, and if there is occasion turn it; when it is enough, take it up, and lay a coarse cloth on a dish, on which lay your fish to strain all the grease from it: if you fry parsley do it quick, and take great care to whip it out of the pan so soon as it is crisp, or it will lose its fine colour. Take great care that your dripping be very nice and clean. You have directions in the eleventh chapter, how to make it fit for use, and have it always in readiness.
Some love fish in batter; then you must beat an egg fine, and dip your fish in just as you are going to put it in the pan; or as good a batter as any, is a little ale and flour beat up, just as you are ready for it, and dip the fish, to fry it.
Fish sauce with lobster
For salmon or turbot, broiled cod or haddock, &c nothing is better than fine butter melted thick: and take a lobster, bruise the body of the lobster in the butter, and cut the flesh into little pieces; stew it all together, and give it a boil. If you would have your sauce very rich, let one half be rich beef gravy, and the other half melted butter with lobster; but the gravy, I think, takes away the sweetness of the butter and a lobster, and the fine flavour of fish.
At page 91
To make Shrimp Sauce
Take a pint of beef gravy, and half a pint of shrimps, thicken it with a good piece of butter rolled in flour. Let the gravy be well seasoned, and let it boil.
To make oyster sauce
Take half a pint of large oysters, liquor and all; put them into a saucepan, with two or three blades of mace, and twelve whole peppercorns; let them simmer over a slow fire, till the oysters are fine and plump, then carefully with a fork take out the oysters from the liquor and spice, and let the liquor boil five or six minutes; then strain the liquor, wash out the saucepan clean and put the oysters and liquor in the saucepan again, with half a pint of gravy, and half a pound of butter just rolled in a little flour. You may put in two spoonfuls of white wine, keep it stirring till the sauce boils, and all the butter is melted.
To make anchovy sauce
Take a pint of gravy, put in an anchovy, take a quarter of a pound of butter rolled in a little flour, and stir all together till it boils. You may add a little juice of lemon, catchup, red wine, and walnut liquor, just as you please.
Plain butter melted thick, with a spoonful of walnut-pickle or catchup, is good sauce, or anchovy: in short you may put as many things as you fancy into the sauce; all other sauce for fish you have in the Lent chapter.
To dress a brace of carp
First, knock the carp on the head, save all the blood you can, scale it, and then gut it, and wash the carp in a pint of red wine, and the roes; have some water boiling, with a handful of salt, a little horseradish, and a bundle of sweet herbs; put in your carp, and boil it softly. When it is boiled, strain it well over the hot water; in the mean time, strain the wine through a sieve, put it and the blood into a saucepan, with a pint of good gravy, a little mace, twelve corns of black and twelve of white pepper, six cloves, an anchovy, an onion, and a little bundle of sweet herbs. Let them simmer very softly a quarter of an hour, then strain it, put it into the saucepan again, and add to it two spoonfuls of catchup, and a quarter or a pound of butter rolled in a little flour, half a spoonful of mushroom-pickle, if you have it; if not, the same quantity of lemon juice, stir it all together, and let it boil. Boil one half of the roes; the other half beat up with an egg, half a nutmeg grated, a little lemon-peel cut fine and a little salt. Beat all well together, and have ready some nice beef dripping boiling in a stewpan, into which drop your roes and fry them in little cakes, about as big as a crown-piece, of a fine light brown, and some sippets cut three-corner-ways, and fried crisp; a few oysters, if you have them, dipped in a little batter and fried brown, and a good handful of parsley fried green.
At page 92
Lay the fish in the dish, the boiled roes on each side, the sippets standing round the carp, pour the sauce boiling hot over the fish; lay the fried roes and oysters, with parsley and scraped horseradish and lemon between, all round the dish; the rest of the cakes and oysters lay in the dish, and send it to table hot. If you would have the sauce white, put in white wine, and good strong veal gravy, with the above ingredients. Dressed as in the Lent chapter, is full as good, if your beer is not bitter.
As to dressing pike, and all other fish, you have it in the Lent chapter, only this, when you dress them with a pudding, you may add a little beef suet cut very fine, and good gravy in the sauce. This is a better way, than stewing them in the gravy.
Chapter VI
Of soups and broths
At page 93
To make a strong fish gravy
Take two or three eels, or any fish you have, skin or scale them, and gut them and wash them from grit; cut them into little pieces, put them into a saucepan, cover them with water, a little crust of bread toasted brown, a blade or two of mace and some whole pepper, a few sweet herbs, a very little bit of lemon peel. Let it boil till it is rich and good, then have ready a piece of butter, according to your gravy, if a pint, as big as a walnut. Melt it in the saucepan, then shake in a little flour, and toss it about till it is brown, and then strain in the gravy to it. Let it boil a few minutes, and it will be good.
At page 94
A crayfish soup
Take a gallon of water and set it a boiling; put in it a bunch of sweet herbs, three or four blades of mace, an onion stuck with cloves, pepper and salt; then have about two hundred crayfish, save out about twenty, then pick the rest from the shells, save the tails whole; the body and shells beat in a mortar, with a pint of peas, green or dry, first boiled tender in fair water, put your boiling water to it, and straining it boiling hot through a cloth till you have all the goodness out of it; set it over a slow fire or stew hole, have ready a French roll cut very thin, and let be very dry, put it to your soup, let it stew till half is wasted, then put a piece of butter as big as an egg into a saucepan, let it simmer till it has done making a noise, shake in two tea spoonfuls of flour, stirring it about, and an onion; put in the tails of the fish, give them a shake round, put to them a pint of good gravy, let it boil four or five minutes softly, take out the onion, and put to it a pint of the soup, stir it well together and pour it all together, and let it simmer very softly a quarter of an hour; fry a French roll very nice and brown, and the twenty crayfish, pour your soup into the dish, and lay the roll in the middle, and the crayfish round the dish.
Fine cooks boil a brace of carp and tench, and may be a lobster or two, and many more rich things, to make a crayfish soup; but the above is full as good, and wants no addition.
Chapter IX
For a fast dinner a number of good dishes which you may make use of for a table at any other time.
At page 114
To make an eel soup
Take eels according to the quantity of soup you would make: a pound of eels will make a pint of good soup; so to every pound of eels, put a quart of water, a crust of bread, two or three blades of mace, a little whole pepper, an onion, and a bundle of sweet herbs; cover them close, and let them boil till half the liquor is wasted; then strain it, and toast some bread, and cut it small, lay the bread into the dish, and pour in your soup. If you have a stew-hole, set the dish over it for a minute, and send it to table. If you find your soup not rich enough, you must let it boil till it is as strong as you would have it. You may make this soup as rich and good as if it was meat: you may add a piece of carrot to brown it.
To make a crayfish soup
Take a carp, a large eel, half a thornback, cleanse and wash them clean, put them into a clean saucepan, or little pot, put to them a gallon of water, the crust of a penny-loaf, skim them well, season it with mace, cloves, whole pepper, black and white, an onion, a bundle of sweet herbs, some parsley, a piece of ginger, let them boil by themselves close covered, then take the tails of a hundred crayfish, pick out the back, and all the woolly parts that are about them, put them into a saucepan with two quarts of water, a little salt, a bundle of sweet herbs: let them stew softly, and when they are ready to boil, take out the tails, and beat all the other part of the crayfish with the shells, and boil in the liquor the tails came out of, with a blade of mace, till it comes to about a pint, strain it through a clean sieve, and add to it the fish a boiling. Let all boil softly, till there is about three quarts; then strain it off through a coarse sieve, put it into your pot again, and if it wants salt you must put some in, and the tails of the crayfish and lobster; take out all the meat and body, and chop it very small, and add to it; take a French roll and fry it crisp, and add to it. Let them stew all together for a quarter of an hour. You may stew a carp with them; pour your soup into your dish, the roll swimming in the middle.
When you have a carp, there should be a roll on each side Garnish the dish with crayfish. If your crayfish will not lay on the sides of your dish, make a little paste, and lay round the rim, and lay the fish on that all round the dish. Take care that your soup be well seasoned, but not too high.
At page 115
To make a mussel soup
Get a hundred of mussels, wash them very clean, put them into a stewpan, cover them close; let them stew till they open, then pick them out of the shells, strain the liquor through a fine lawn sieve to your mussels, and pick the beard or crab out, if any.
Take a dozen crayfish, beat them to mash, with a dozen of almonds blanched, and beat fine, then take a small parsnip and a carrot scraped, and cut in thin slices, fry them brown with a little butter; then take two pounds of any fresh fish, and boil in a gallon of water with a bundle of sweet herbs, a large onion stuck with cloves, whole pepper, black and white, a little parsley, a little piece of horseradish, and salt the mussel liquor, the crayfish and almonds. Let them boil till half is wasted, then strain them through a sieve, put the soup into a saucepan, put in twenty of the mussels, a few mushrooms and truffles cut small, and a leek washed and cut very small: take two French rolls, take out the crumb, fry it brown, cut it into little pieces, put it into the soup, let it boil all together for a quarter of an hour, with the fried carrot and parsnip; in the meanwhile take the crust of the rolls fried crisp, take half a hundred of the mussels, a quarter of a pound of butter, a spoonful of water, shake in a little flour, set them on the fire, keeping the saucepan shaking all the time till all the, butter is melted. Season it with pepper and salt, beat the yolks of three eggs, put them in, stir them all the time for fear of curdling, grate a little nutmeg; when it is thick and fine, fill the rolls, pour your soup into the dish, put in the rolls, and lay the rest of the mussels round the rim of the dish.
To make a skate or thornback soup
Take two pounds of skate or thornback, skin it and boil it in six quarts of water. When it is enough, take it up, pick off the flesh and lay it by; put in the bones again, and about two pounds of any fresh fish, a very little piece of lemon-peel, a bundle of sweet herbs, whole pepper, two or three blades of mace, a little piece of horseradish, the crust of a penny-loaf, a little parsley, cover it close, and let it boil till there is about two quarts; then strain it off, and add an ounce of vermicelli, set it on the fire, and let it boil softly. In the meantime take a French roll, cut a little hole in the top, take out the crumb, fry the crust brown in batter, take the flesh off the fish you laid by, cut it into little pieces, put it into a saucepan, with two or three spoonfuls of the soup, shake in a little flour, put in a piece of butter, a little pepper and salt; shake them together in the saucepan over the fire till it is quite thick, then fill the roll with it, pour your soup into your dish, let the roll swim in the middle, and send it to table.
At page 116
To make an oyster soup
Your stock must be made of any sort of fish the place affords; let there be about two quarts, take a pint of oysters, beard them, put them into a saucepan, strain the liquor, let them stew two or three minutes in their own liquor, then take the hard parts of the oysters, and beat them in a mortar, with the yolks of four hard eggs; mix them with some of the soup, put them with the other part of the oysters and liquor into a saucepan, a little nutmeg, pepper and salt; stir them well together, and let it boil quarter of an hour. Dish it up, and send it to table.
At page 128
To stew a brace of carp
Scrape them very clean, then gut them, wash them and the roes in a pint of good stale beer, to preserve all the blood, and boil the carp with a little salt in the water.
In the meantime strain the beer, and put it into a saucepan, with a pint of red wine, two or three blades of mace, some whole pepper, black and white, an onion stuck with cloves, half a nutmeg bruised, a bundle of sweet herbs, a piece of lemon-peel as big as a six-pence, an anchovy, a little piece of horseradish. Let these boil together softly for a quarter of an hour, covered close; then strain it, and add to it half the hard row beat to pieces, two or three spoonfuls of catchup, a quarter of a pound of fresh butter and a spoonful of mushroom pickle. Let it boil, and keep stirring it till the sauce is thick and enough; if it wants any salt you must put some in: Then take the rest of the row, and beat it up with the yolk of an egg, some nutmeg and a little lemon-peel cut small, fry them in fresh butter in little cakes, and some pieces of bread cut three-corner-ways and fried brown. When the carp is enough take them up, pour your sauce over them, lay the cakes round the dish, with horseradish scraped fine, and fried parsley. The rest lay on the carp, and the bread stick about them, and lay round them, then sliced lemon notched and laid round the dish, and two or three pieces on the carp. Send it to table hot.
The boiling of carp at all times is the best way, they eat fatter and finer. The stewing of them is no addition to the sauce, and only hardens the fish and spoils it. If you would have your sauce white, put in good fish broth instead of beer, and white wine in the room of red wine. Make your broth with any sort of fresh fish you have, and season it as you do gravy.
To fry carp
First scale and gut them, wash them clean, lay them in a cloth to dry, then flour them, and fry them of a fine light brown. Fry some toast cut three-corner-ways, and the roes; when your fish is done, lay them on a coarse cloth to strain. Let your sauce be butter and anchovy, with juice of lemon. Lay your carp in the dish, the roes on each side, and garnish with the fried toast and lemon.
To bake a carp
Scale, wash, and clean a brace of carp very well; take an earthen pan deep enough to lie cleverly in, butter the pan a little, lay in your carp; season it with mace, cloves, nutmeg, and black and white pepper, a bundle of sweet herbs, an onion, an anchovy, pour in a bottle of white wine, cover it close, and let them bake an hour in a hot oven, if large; if small, a less time will do them. When they are enough, carefully take them up and lay them in a dish; set it over hot water to keep it hot, and cover it close, then pour all the liquor they were baked in into a saucepan, let it boil a minute or two, then strain it, and add half a pound of butter rolled in flour. Let it boil, keep stirring it, squeeze in the juice of half a lemon, and put in what salt you want; pour the sauce over the fish, lay the roes round, and garnish with lemon. Observe to skim all the fat off the liquor.
At page 129
To fry tench
Slime your tench, slit the skin along the backs, and with the point of your knife raise it up from the bone, then cut the skin across at the head and tail, then strip it off, and take out the bone; then take another tench, or a carp, and mince the flesh small with mushrooms, chives and parsley. Season them with salt, pepper, beaten mace, nutmeg, and a few savoury herbs minced small. Mingle these all well together, then pound them in a mortar, with crumbs of bread as much as two eggs soaked in cream, the yolks of three or four eggs and a piece of butter. When these have been well pounded, stuff the tench with this farce: take clarified butter, put it into a pan, set it over the fire, and when it is hot flour your tench, and put them into the pan one by one and fry them brown; then take them up, lay them in a coarse cloth before the fire to keep hot. In the meantime pour all the grease and fat out of the pan, put in a quarter of a pound of butter, shake some flour all over the pan, keep stirring with a spoon till the butter is a little brown; then pour in half a pint of white wine, stir it together, pour in half a pint of boiling water, an onion stuck with cloves, a bundle of sweet herbs and a blade or two of mace. Cover them close, and let them stew as softly as you can for a quarter of an hour; then strain off the liquor put it into the pan again, add two spoonfuls of catchup, have ready an ounce of truffles or morels boiled in half a pint of water tender, pour in the truffles, water and all into the pan, a few mushrooms, and either half a pint of oysters, clean washed in their own liquor and the liquor and all put into the pan, or some crayfish; but then you must put in the tails, and after clean picking them, boil them in half a pint of water, then strain the liquor and put into the sauce: Or take some fish-melts, and toss up in your sauce. All this is just as you fancy.
When you find your sauce is very good, put your tench into the pan, make them quite hot, then lay them into your dish and pour the sauce over them. Garnish with lemon. Or you may for change, put in half a pint of stale beer instead of water. You may dress tench just as you do carp.
To roast a cod's head
Wash it very clean and score it with a knife, strew a little salt on it, and lay it in a stewpan before the fire, with something behind it that the fire may roast it. All the water that comes from it the first half hour throw away, then throw on it a little nutmeg, cloves and mace beat fine, and salt; flour it, and baste it with butter. When that has lain some time, turn and season it, and baste the other side the same; turn it often, then baste it with butter and crumbs of bread. If it is a large head, it will take four or live hours baking. Have ready some melted butter with an anchovy, some of the liver of the fish boiled and bruised fine, mix it well with the butter, and two yolks of eggs beat fine and mixed with the butter, then strain them through a sieve, and put them into the saucepan again, with a few shrimps, or pickled cockles, two spoonfuls of red wine and the juice of a lemon. Pour it into the pan the head was roasted in, and stir it all together, pour it into the saucepan, keep it stirring, and let it boil; pour it in a basin. Garnish the head with fried fish, lemon and scraped horseradish. If you have a large tin oven, it will do better.
At page 130
To boil a cod's head
Set a fish-kettle on the fire, with water enough to boil it, a good handful of salt, a pint of vinegar, a bundle of sweet herbs, and a piece of horseradish. Let it boil a quarter of an hour, then put in the head, and when you are sure it is enough, lift up the fish-plate with the fish on it, set it across the kettle to strain, then lay it in your dish and lay the liver on one side. Garnish with lemon and horseradish scraped, melt some butter, with a little of the fish liquor, an anchovy, oysters, or shrimps, or just what you fancy.
To stew cod
Cut your cod into slices an inch thick lay them in the bottom of a large stewpan; season them with nutmeg, beaten pepper and salt, a bundle of sweet herbs and an onion, half a pint of white wine and a quarter of a pint of water; cover it close, and let it simmer softly for five or six minutes, then squeeze in the juice of a lemon, put in a few oysters and the liquor strained, a piece of butter as big as an egg rolled in flour, a blade or two of mace, cover it close and let it stew softly, shaking the pan often. When it is enough, take out the sweet herbs and onion, and dish it up; pour the sauce over it, and garnish with lemon.
To fricassee cod
Get the sounds, blanch them, then make them very clean and cut them into little pieces. If they be dried sounds, you must first boil them tender. Get some of the roes, blanch them and wash them clean, cut them into round pieces about an inch thick, with some of the livers, an equal quantity of each, to make a handsome dish, and a piece of cod about one pound in the middle. Put them into a stewpan, season them with a little beaten mace, grated nutmeg and salt, a little bundle of sweet herbs, an onion, and a quarter of a pint of fish-broth or boiling water; cover them close, and let them stew a few minutes: Then put in half a pint of red wine, a few oysters with the liquor strained, a piece or butter rolled in flour, shake the pan round and let them stew softly till they are enough, take out the sweet herbs and onion, and dish it up. Garnish with lemon. Or you may do them white thus; instead of red wine add white, and a quarter of a pint of cream.
At page 131
To bake a cod's head
Butter the pan you intend to bake it in, make your head very clean, lay it in the pan, put in a bundle of sweet herbs, an onion stuck with cloves, three or four blades of mace, half a large spoonful of black and white pepper, a nutmeg bruised, a quart of water, a little piece of lemon-peel, and a little piece of horseradish. Flour your head, grate a nutmeg over it, stick pieces of butter all over it and throw raspings all over that. Send it to the oven to bake. When it is enough, take it out of the dish, and lay it carefully into the dish you intend to serve it up in. Set the dish over boiling water, and cover it with a cover to keep it hot. In the meantime be quick, pour all the liquor out of the dish it was baked in into a saucepan, set it on the fire to boil three or four minutes, then strain it and put to it a gill of red wine, two spoonfuls of catchup, a pint of shrimps, half a pint of oysters or mussels, liquor and all, but first strain it, a spoonful of mushroom pickle, a quarter of a pound of butter rolled in flour, stir it all together till it is thick and boils; then pour it into the dish, have ready some toast cut three-corner-ways and fried crisp. Stick pieces about the head and mouth and lay the rest round the head. Garnish with lemon notched, scraped horseradish, and partly crisped in a plate before the fire. Lay one slice of lemon on the head, and serve it up hot.
To broil shrimp, cod, salmon, whiting or haddock
Flour it, and have a quick clear fire, set your gridiron high, broil it of a fine brown, lay it in your dish, and for sauce have good melted butter; Take a lobster, bruise the body in the butter, cut the meat small, put all together into the melted butter, make it hot and pour into your dish, or into basins. Garnish with horseradish and lemon.
Or oyster sauce made thus
Take half a pint of oysters, put them into a saucepan with their own liquor, two or three blades of mace. Let them simmer till they are plump, then with a fork take out the oysters, strain the liquor to them, put them into the saucepan again, with a gill of white wine hot, a pound of butter rolled in a little flour; shake the saucepan often, and when the butter is melted, give it a boil up.
Mussel sauce made thus is very good, only you must put them into a stewpan, and cover them close; first to open, and search that there be no crabs under the tongue.
Or a spoonful of walnut-pickle in the butter makes the sauce good, or a spoonful of either sort of catchup, or horseradish sauce.
Melt your butter, scrape a good deal of horseradish fine, put it into the melted butter, grate half a nutmeg, beat up the yolk of an egg with one spoonful of cream, pour it into the butter, keep it stirring till it boils, then pour it directly into your basin.
To dress little fish
As to all sorts of little fish, such as smelts, roach, &c. they should be fried dry of a fine brown, and nothing but plain butter. Garnish with lemon.
And to boiled salmon the same, only, garnish with lemon and horseradish.
At page 132
And with all boiled fish, you should put a good deal of salt and horseradish in the water; except mackrel, with which put salt and mint, parsley and fennel, which you must chop to put into the butter, and some love scalded gooseberries with them. And be sure to boil your fish well; but take great care they don't break.
To broil Mackrel
Clean them, cut off the heads, split them, season them with pepper and salt, flour them, and broil them of a fine light brown. Let your sauce be plain butter.
To broil weavers
Gut them and wash them clean, dry them in a clean cloth, flour them, then broil them and have melted butter in a cup. They are fine fish, and cut as firm as a sole; but you must take care not to hurt yourself with the two sharp bones in the head.
To boil a turbot
Lay it in a good deal of salt and water an hour or two, and if It is not quite sweet, shift your water five or six times; first put a good deal of salt in the mouth and belly.
In the meantime set on your fish-kettle with clean water and salt, a little vinegar, and a piece of horseradish. When the water boils, lay the turbot on a fish-plate, put it into the kettle, let it be well boiled, but take great care it is not too much done; when enough, take off the fish-kettle, set it before the fire, then carefully lift up the fish-plate and set it across the kettle to drain: In the meantime melt a good deal of fresh butter, and bruise in either the body of one or two lobsters, and the meat cut small, then give it a boil and pour it into basins. This is the best sauce; but you may make what you please. Lay the fish in the dish. Garnish with scraped horseradish and lemon, and pour a few spoonfuls of sauce over it.
To bake a turbot
Take a dish the size of your turbot, rub butter all over it thick, throw a little salt, a little beaten pepper and half a large nutmeg, some parsley minced fine and throw all over, pour in a pint of white wine, cut off the head and tail, lay the turbot in the dish, pour another pint of white wine all over it, grate the other half of the nutmeg over it, and a little pepper, some salt and chopped parsley. Lay a piece of butter here and there all over, and throw a little flour all over, and then a good many crumbs of bread. Bake it, and be sure that it is of a fine brown: then lay it in your dish, stir the sauce in your dish all together, pour it into a saucepan, shake in a little flour, let it boil, then stir in a piece of butter and two spoonfuls of catchup, let it boil and pour it into basins. Garnish your dish with lemon; and you may add what you fancy to the sauce, as shrimps, anchovies, mushrooms, &c. If a small turbot, half the wine will do; it eats finely thus: Lay it in a dish, skim off all the fat, and pour the rest over it.
Let it stand till cold, and it is good with vinegar, and a fine dish to set out a cold table.
At page 133
To dress a sole of pickled salmon
Lay it in fresh water all night, then lay it in a fish-plate, put it into a large stewpan, season it with a little whole pepper, a blade or two of mace in a coarse muslin rag tied, a whole onion, a nutmeg bruised, a bundle of sweet herbs and parsley, a little lemon-peel, put to it three large spoonfuls of vinegar, a pint of white wine, and a quarter of a pound of fresh butter rolled in flour; cover it close, and let it simmer over a slow fire for a quarter of an hour then carefully take up your salmon, and lay it in your dish, set it over hot water and cover it. In the meantime let your sauce boil till it is thick and good. Take out the spice, onion and sweet herbs, and pour it over the fish. Garnish with lemon.
To broil salmon
Cut fresh salmon into thick pieces, flour them and broil them, lay them in your dish, and have plain melted butter in a cup.
Baked salmon
Take a little piece cut into slices, about an inch thick, butter the dish that you would serve it to table on, lay the slices in the dish, take off the skin, make a force-meat thus: Take the flesh of an eel, the flesh of a salmon, an equal quantity, beat it in a mortar, season it with beaten pepper, salt, nutmeg, two or three cloves, some parsley, a few mushrooms, and a piece of butter, ten or a dozen coriander seeds beat fine. Beat all together, boil the crumb of a half-penny roll in milk, beat up four eggs, stir it together till it is thick, let it cool and mix it well together with the rest; then mix all together with four raw eggs, on every slice lay this forcemeat all over, pour a very little melted butter over them and a few crumbs of bread, lay crust round the edge of the dish, and stick oysters round upon it. Bake it in an oven, and when it is of a very fine brown serve it up; pour a little plain butter, with a little red wine in it, into the dish, and the juice of a lemon: Or you may bake it in any dish, and when it is enough lay the slices into another dish. Pour the butter and wine into the dish it was baked in, give it a boil and pour it into the dish. Garnish with lemon. This is a fine dish, squeeze the juice of a lemon in.
To broil mackrel whole
Cut off their heads, gut them, wash them clean, pull out the row at the neck-end, boil it in a little water, then bruise it with a spoon, beat up the yolk of an egg, with a little nutmeg, a little lemon-peel cut fine, a little thyme, some parsley boiled and chopped fine, a little pepper and salt, a few crumbs of bread; mix all well together, and fill the mackrel; flour it well, and broil it nicely. Let your sauce be plain butter, with a little catchup or walnut-pickle.
At page 134
To broil herrings
Scale them, gut them, cut off their heads, wash them clean, dry them in a cloth, flour them and broil them, but with your knife just notch them across: Take the heads and mash them, boil them in small beer or ale, with a little whole pepper and an onion. Let it boil a quarter of an hour, then strain it, thicken it with butter and flour and a good deal of mustard. Lay the fish in the dish, and pour the sauce into a basin, or plain melted butter and mustard.
To fry herrings
Clean them as above, fry them in butter, have ready a good many onions peeled and cut thin. Fry them of a light brown with the herring; lay the herrings in your dish, and the onions round, butter and mustard in a cup. You must do them with a quick fire.
To dress herring and cabbage
Boil your cabbage tender, then put it into a saucepan, and chop it with a spoon: put in a good piece of butter, let it stew, stirring lest it should burn. Take some red herrings and split them open, and toast them before the fire till they are hot through. Lay the cabbage in the dish and lay the herrings on it, and send it to table hot.
Or pick your herring from the bones, and throw all over your cabbage. Have ready a hot iron, and just hold it over the herring to make it hot, and send it away quick.
To make water-sokey
Editor's note: water sokey or water suchy, is a fish soup of sea or coarse fish served in the stewing water. The name probably comes from the Dutch 'waterzootje', introduced to London in the seventeenth century when William III of Orange was on the throne. Henry Fielding's 'Grub St. Opera' of 1731 has "An Irishman loves potatoes; a Dutchman, waterzuche."
Take some of the smallest plaice or flounders you can get, wash them clean, cut the fins close, put them into a stewpan, put just water enough to boil them in, a little salt and a bunch of parsley; when they are enough, send them to table in a soup dish, with the liquor to keep them hot. Have parsley and butter in a cup.
To stew eels
Skin, gut and wash them very clean in six or eight waters, to wash away all the sand; then cut them in pieces, about as long as your finger, put just water enough for sauce, put in a small onion stuck with cloves, a little bundle of sweet herbs, a blade or two of mace, and some whole pepper in a thin muslin rag, cover it close, and let them stew very softly.
Look at them now and then, put in a little piece of butter rolled in flour and a little chopped parsley. When you find they are quite tender and well done, take out the onion, spice and sweet herbs. Put in salt enough to season it. Then dish them up with the sauce.
To stew eels with broth
Cleanse your eels as above, put them into a saucepan with a blade or two of mace and a crust of bread. Put just water enough to cover them close, let them stew very softly; when they are enough dish them up with the broth, and have a little plain melted butter in a cup to eat the eels with. The broth will be very good, and is fit for weakly and consumptive constitutions.
At page 135
To dress a pike
Gut it, cleanse it and make it very clean, then turn it round with the tail in the mouth, lay it in a little dish, cut toasts three-corner-ways, fill the middle with them, flour it and stick pieces of butter all over; then throw a little more flour, and send it to the oven to bake: Or it will do better in a tin oven before the fire, then you can baste it as you will. When it is done lay it in your dish, and have ready melted butter, with an anchovy dissolved in it, and a few oysters or shrimps; and if there is any liquor in the dish it was baked in, add it to the sauce and put in just what you fancy. Pour your sauce into the dish. Garnish it with toast about the fish, and lemon about the dish. You should have a pudding in the belly, made thus: take grated bread, two hard eggs chopped fine, half a nutmeg grated, a little lemon-peel cut fine, and either the roes or liver, or both, if any, chopped fine, and if you have none, get either the piece of the liver of a cod, or the roe of any fish, mix them all together with a raw egg and a good piece of butter. Roll it up, and put it into the fish's belly before you bake it. A haddock done this way eats very well.
To broil haddocks, when they are in high season
Scale them, gut and wash them clean, don't rip open their bellies, but take the guts out with the gills, dry them in a clean cloth very well: If there be any roe or liver take it out, but put it in again; flour them well, and have a clear good fire. Let your gridiron be hot and clean, lay them on, turn them quick two or three times for fear of sticking; then let one side be enough, and turn the other side. When that is done, lay them in your dish, and have plain butter in a cup.
They eat finely salted a day or two before you dress them, and hung up to dry, or boiled with egg sauce. Newcastle is a famous place for salted haddocks. They come in barrels, and keep a great while.
To broil cod sounds
You must first lay them in hot water a few minutes; take them out and rub them well with salt, to take off their skin and black dirt, then they will look white, then put them into water and give them a boil. Take them out and flour them. When they are enough, lay them in your dish, and pour melted butter and mustard into the dish. Broil them whole.
To fricassee cod sounds
Clean them very well as above, then cut them into little pretty pieces, boil them tender in milk and water, then throw them into a cullender to drain, put them into a clean saucepan, season them with a little beaten mace and grated nutmeg, and a very little salt; pour to them just cream enough for sauce and a good piece of butter rolled in flour, keep shaking your saucepan round all the time till it is thick enough: Then dish it up, and garnish with lemon.
At page 136
To dress salmon au court-bouillon
After having washed and made your salmon very clean, score the sides pretty deep, that it may take the seasoning, take a quarter of an ounce of mace, a quarter of an ounce of cloves, a nutmeg, dry them and beat them fine, a quarter of an ounce of black pepper beat fine, and an ounce of salt. Lay the salmon in a napkin, season it well with this spice, cut out some lemon peel fine and parsley, throw all over, and in the notches put about a pound of fresh butter rolled in flour, roll it up tight in the napkin, and bind it about with packthread. Put it into fish kettle, just big enough to hold it, pour in a quart of white wine, a quart of vinegar, and as much water as will just boil it.
Set it over a quick fire, cover it close; when it is enough, which you must judge by the bigness of your salmon, set it over a stove to stew till you are ready. Then have a clean napkin folded in the dish it is to lay in, turn it out of the napkin it was boiled in on the other napkin, garnish the dish with a good deal of parsley crisped before the fire.
For sauce have nothing but plain butter in a cup, or horse-radish and vinegar. Serve it up for a first course.
To dress salmon á la braise
Take a fine large piece of salmon, or a large salmon-trout, make a pudding thus: take a large eel, make it clean, slit it open, take out the bone, and take all the meat clean from the bone, chop it fine, with two anchovies, a little lemon-peel cut fine, a little pepper, and a grated nutmeg with parsley chopped, and a very little bit of thyme, a few crumbs of bread, the yolk of an hard egg chopped fine; roll it up in a piece of butter, and put it into the belly of the fish, sew it up, lay it in an open stewpan, or little kettle that will just hold it, take half a pound of fresh butter, put it into a saucepan, when it is melted shake in a handful of flour, stir it till it is a little brown, then pour to it a pint of fish broth, stir it together, pour it to the fish, with a bottle of white wine. Season it with salt to your palate, put some mace, cloves, and whole pepper in a coarse muslin rag, tie it, put to the fish an onion, and a little bundle of sweet herbs. Cover it close, and let it stew very softly over a slow fire, put in some fresh mushrooms, or pickled ones cut small, an ounce of truffles and morels cut small, let them all stew together, when it is enough, take up your salmon carefully, lay it in your dish, and pour the sauce all over. Garnish with scraped horseradish and lemon notched, serve it up hot. This is a fine dish for a first course.
Salmon in cases
Cut your salmon into little pieces, such as will lay rolled in half-sheets of paper. Season it with pepper, salt and nutmeg; butter the inside of the paper well, fold the paper so as nothing can come out, then lay, them on a tin plate to be baked, pour a little melted butter over the papers, and then crumbs of bread all over them. Don't let your oven be too hot, for fear of burning the paper. A tin oven before the fire does best. When you think they are enough, serve them up just as they are. There will be sauce enough in the papers.
At page 137
To dress flat fish
In dressing all sorts of flat fish, take great care in the boiling of them, be sure to have them enough, but don't let them be broke; mind to put a good deal of salt in, and horse-radish in the water, let your fish be well drained, and mind to cut the fins off. When you fry them, let them be well drained in a cloth and floured, and fry them of a fine light brown, either in oil or butter. If there be any water in your dish with the boiled fish, take it out with a sponge. As to your fried fish, a coarse cloth is the best thing to drain it on.
To dress salt fish
Old ling, which is the best sort of salt fish, lay it in water twelve hours, then lay it twelve hours on a board, and then twelve more in water. When you boil it put it into the water cold: if it is good, it will take about fifteen minutes boiling softly. Boil parsnips very tender, scrape them, and put them into a saucepan, put to them some milk, stir them till thick, then stir in a good piece of butter, and a little salt; when they are enough lay them in a plate, the fish by itself dry, and butter and hard eggs chopped in a basin.
As to water-cod, that need only be boiled and well skimmed. Scotch haddocks you must lay in water all night. You may boil or broil them. If you broil, you must split them in two. You may garnish your dishes with hard eggs and parsnips.
To dress lampreys
The best of this sort of fish are taken in the river Severn; and, when they are in season, the fishmongers and others in London have them from Gloucester. But if you are where they are to be had fresh, you may dress them as you please.
To fry lampreys
Bleed them and save the blood, then wash them in hot water to take off the slime, and cut them to pieces. Fry them in a little fresh butter not quite enough, pour out the fat, put in a little white wine, give the pan a shake round, season it with whole pepper, nutmeg, salt, sweet herbs and a bay-leaf, put in a few capers, a good piece of butter rolled in flour, and the blood; give the pan a shake round often, and cover them close. When you think they are enough take them out, strain the sauce, then give them a boil quick, squeeze in a little lemon and pour over the fish. Garnish with lemon, and dress them just what way you fancy.
To pitchcock eels
You must split a large eel down the back, and joint the bones, cut it in two or three pieces, melt a little butter, put in a little vinegar and salt, let your eels lay in two or three minutes; then take the pieces up one by one, turn them round with a little fine skewer, roll them in crumbs of bread, and broil them of a fine blown. Let your sauce be plain butter, with the juice of lemon.
At page 138
To fry eels
Make them very clean, cut them into pieces, season them with pepper and salt, flour them and fry them in butter. Let your sauce be plain butter melted, with the juice of lemon. Be sure they be well drained from the fat before you lay them in the dish.
To broil eels
Take a large eel, skin it and make it very clean. Open the belly, cut it in four pieces, take the tail-end, strip off the flesh, beat it in a mortar, season it with a little beaten cream, a little grated nutmeg, pepper and salt, a little parsley and thyme, a little lemon-peel, an equal quantity of crumbs of bread, roll it in a little piece of butter; then mix it again with the yolk of an egg, roll it up again, and fill the three pieces of belly, with it. Cut the skin of the eel, wrap the pieces in and sew up the skin. Broil them well, have butter and anchovy for sauce, with the juice of lemon.
To farce eels with white sauce
Skin and clean your eel well, pick off all the flesh clean from the bone, which you must leave whole to the head. Take the flesh, cut it small and beat it in a mortar; then take half the quantity of crumbs of bread, beat it with fish, season it with nutmeg and beaten pepper, an anchovy, a good deal of parsley chopped fine, a few truffles boiled tender in a very little water, chop them fine, put them into the mortar with the liquor and a few mushrooms: beat it well together, mix in a little cream, then take it out and mix it well together with your hand, lay it round the bone in the shape of the eel, lay it on a buttered pan, drudge it well with fine crumbs of bread and bake it. When it is done, lay it carefully in your dish, have ready half a pint of cream, a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, stir it one way till it is thick, pour it over your eels, and garnish with lemon.
To dress eels with brown sauce
Skin and clean a large eel very well, cut it in pieces, put it into a saucepan or stewpan, put to it a quarter of a pint of water, a bundle of sweet herbs, an onion, some whole pepper a blade of mace and a little salt. Cover it close, and when it begins to simmer, put in a gill of red wine, a spoonful of mushroom pickle, a piece of butter as big as a walnut rolled in flour; cover it close, and let it stew till it is enough, which you will know by the eel being very tender. Take up your eel, lay it, in a dish, strain your sauce, give it a boil quick, and pour it over your fish. You must make sauce according to the largeness of your eel, more or less. Garnish with lemon.
At page 139
To roast a piece of fresh sturgeon
Get a piece of fresh sturgeon, of about eight or ten pounds, let it lay in water and salt six or eight hours, with its scales on; then fasten it on the spit, and baste it well with butter for a quarter of an hour, then with a little flour, then grate a nutmeg all over it, a little mace and pepper beaten fine, and salt thrown over it, and a few sweet herbs dried and powdered fine, and then crumbs of bread; then keep basting a little, and drudging with crumbs of bread, and what falls from it till it is enough. In the meantime prepare this sauce: Take a pint of water, an anchovy, a little piece of lemon-peel, an onion, a bundle of sweet herbs, mace, cloves, whole pepper, black and white, a little piece of horseradish; cover it close, let it boil a quarter of an hour, then strain it, put it into the saucepan again, pour in a pint of white wine, about a dozen oysters and the liquor, two spoonfuls of catchup, two of walnut-pickle, the inside of a crab bruised fine or lobster, shrimps or prawns, a good piece of butter rolled in flour, a spoonful of mushroom-pickle, or juice of lemon. Boil it all together; when your fish is enough, lay it in your dish and pour the sauce over it. Garnish with fried toasts and lemon.
To roast a fillet or collar of sturgeon
Take a piece of fresh sturgeon, scale it, gut it, take out the bones and cut in lengths about seven or eight inches; then provide some shrimps and oysters chopped small, an equal quantity of crumbs of bread and a little lemon-peel grated, some nutmeg, a little beaten mace, a little pepper and chopped parsley, a few sweet herbs, an anchovy, mix it together. When it is done, butter one side of your fish, and strew some of your mixture upon it; then begin to roll it up as close as possible, and when the first piece is rolled up, roll upon that another, prepared in the same manner, and bind it round with a narrow fillet, leaving as much of the fish apparent as may be; but you must mind that the roll must not be above four inches and a half thick, for else one part will be done before the inside is warm, therefore we often parboil the inside roll before we roll it. When it is enough, lay it in your dish, and prepare sauce as above. Garnish with lemon.
To boil sturgeon
Clean your sturgeon and prepare as much liquor as will just boil it. To two quarts of water a pint of vinegar, a stick of horseradish, two or three bits of lemon-peel, some whole pepper, a bay-leaf, and a small handful of salt. Boil your fish in this, and serve it with the following sauce: Melt a pound of butter, dissolve an anchovy in it, put in a blade or two of mace, bruise the body of a crab in the butter, a few shrimps or crayfish, a little catchup, a little lemon juice, give it a boil, drain your fish well and lay it in your dish. Garnish with fried oysters, sliced lemon and scraped horseradish; pour your sauce into boats or basins. So you may dry it, ragoo it, or bake it.
At page 140
To crimp cod the Dutch way
Take a gallon of pump water, a pound of salt, then boil it half an hour, skim it well, cut your cod in slices, and when the salt and water has boiled half an hour, put in your slices. Two minutes is enough to boil them. Take them out, lay them on a sieve to drain, then flour them and broil them. Make what sauce you please.
To crimp Skate
It must be cut into long slips crossways, about an inch broad. Boil water and salt as above, then throw in your skate. Let your water boil quick, and about three minutes will boil it. Drain it, and send it to table hot, with butter and mustard in one cup, and butter and anchovy in the other cup.
To fricassee skate or thornback white
Cut the meat clean from the bone, fins, &c. and make it very clean. Cut it into little pieces, about an inch broad and two inches long, lay it in your stewpan. To a pound of the flesh, put a quarter of a pint of water a little beaten mace and grated nutmeg, a little bundle of sweet herbs and a little salt; cover it, and let it boil three minutes. Take out the sweet herbs, put in a quarter of a pint of good cream, a piece of butter as big as a walnut rolled in flour, a glass of white wine, keep shaking the pan all the while one way till it is thick and smooth. Then dish it up, and garnish with lemon.
To fricassee it brown
Take your fish as above, flour it and fry it of a fine brown in fresh butter; then take it up, lay it before the fire to keep warm, pour the fat out of the pan, shake in a little flour, and with a spoon stir in a piece of butter as big as an egg; stir it round till it is well mixed in the pan, then pour in a quarter of a pint of water, stir it round shake in a very little beaten pepper, a little beaten mace, put in an onion and a little bundle of sweet herbs, an anchovy, shake it round and let it boil; then pour in a quarter of a pint of red wine, a spoonful of catchup, a little juice of lemon, stir it all together and let it boil. When it is enough, take out the sweet herbs and onion, and put in the fish to heat. Then dish it up and garnish with lemon.
To fricassee soles white
Skin, wash and gut your soles very clean, cut off their heads, dry them in a cloth, then with your knife very carefully cut the flesh from the bones and fins on both sides. Cut the flesh longways, and then across, so that each sole will be in eight pieces: Take the heads and bones, then put them into a saucepan with a pint of water, a bundle of sweet herbs, an onion, a little whole pepper, two or three blades of mace, a little salt, a very little piece of lemon-peel, and a little crust of bread. Cover it close, let it boil till half is wasted, then strain it through a fine sieve, put it into a stewpan, put in the soles and half a pint of white wine, a little parsley chopped fine, a few mushrooms cut small, a piece of butter as big as an hen's egg rolled in flour, grate in a little nutmeg, set all together on the fire, but keep shaking the pan all the while till the flesh is enough. Then dish it up, and garnish with lemon.
At page 141
To fricassee soles brown
Cleanse and cut your soles, boil the water as in the foregoing receipt, flour your fish and fry them in fresh butter of a fine light brown. Take the flesh of a small sole, beat it in a mortar, with a piece of bread as big as an hen's egg soaked in cream, the yolks of two hard eggs and a little melted butter, a little bit of thyme, a little parsley, an anchovy, season it with nutmeg, mix all together with the yolk of a raw egg and with a little flour, roll it up into little balls and fry them, but not too much. Then lay your fish and balls before the fire, pour out all the fat of the pan, pour in the liquor which is boiled with the spice and herbs, stir it round in the pan, then put in half a pint of red wine, a few truffles and morels, a few mushrooms, a spoonful of catchup and the juice of half a small lemon. Stir it all together and let it boil, then stir in a piece of butter rolled in flour; stir it round, when your sauce is of a fine thickness, put in your fish and balls, and when it is hot dish it up, put in the balls and pour your sauce over it. Garnish with lemon. In the same manner dress a small turbot or any flat fish.
To boil soles
Take a pair of soles, make them clean, lay them in vinegar, salt and water two hours; then dry them in a cloth, put them into a stewpan, put to them a pint of white wine, a bundle of sweet herbs, an onion stuck with six cloves, some whole pepper and a little salt; cover them, and let them boil. When they are enough, take them up, lay them in your dish, drain the liquor, and thicken it up with butter and flour. Pour the sauce over, and garnish with scraped horseradish and lemon. In this manner dress a little turbot. It is a genteel dish for supper. You may add prawns or shrimps, or mussels to the sauce.
To make a collar of fish in ragoo to look like a breast of veal collared
Take a large eel, skin it, wash it clean and parboil it, pick off the flesh and beat it in a mortar. Season it with beaten mace, nutmeg, pepper, salt, a few sweet herbs, parsley and a little lemon-peel chopped small. Beat all well together with an equal quantity of crumbs of bread; mix it well together, then take a turbot, soles, skate or thornback, or any flat fish that will roll cleverly. Lay the flat fish on the dresser, take away all the bones and fins, and cover your fish with the farce: Then roll it up as tight as you can and open the skin of your eel, and bind the collar with it nicely, so that it may be flat top and bottom to stand well in the dish; then butter an earthen dish and set it in upright; flour it all over and stick a piece of butter on the top and round the edges so that it may run down on the fish, and let it be well baked; but take great care it is not broke. Let there be a quarter of a pint of water in the dish.
In the mean time, take the water the eel was boiled in and all the bones of the fish. Set them on to boil, season them with mace, cloves, black and white pepper, sweet herbs and onion. Cover it close and let it boil till there is about a quarter of a pint; then strain it, add to it a few truffles and morels, a few mushrooms, two spoonfuls of catchup, a gill of red wine, a piece of butter as big as a large walnut rolled in flour. Stir all together, season with salt to your palate, save some of the farce you make of the eel and mix with the yolk of an egg, and roll them up in little balls with flour and fry them of a light brown. When your fish is enough, lay it in your dish, skim all the fat off the pan and pour the gravy to your sauce. Let it all boil together till it is thick. Then pour it over the roll, and put in your balls. Garnish with lemon.
This does best in a tin oven before the fire, because then you can baste it as you please. This is a fine bottom dish.
At page 142
To butter crabs or lobsters
Take two crabs, or lobsters, being boiled and cold, take all the meat out of the shells and bodies, mince it small and put it all together into a saucepan; add to it a glass of white wine, two spoonfuls of vinegar, a nutmeg grated, then let it boil up till it is thorough hot. Then have ready half a pound of fresh butter, melted with an anchovy, and the yolks of two eggs beat up and mixed with the butter; then mix crab and butter all together, shaking the saucepan constantly round till it is quite hot. Then have ready the great shell, either of the crab, or lobster; lay it in the middle of your dish, pour some into the shell, and the rest in little saucers round the shell, sticking three-corner toasts between the saucers, and round the shell. This is a fine side-dish at a second course.
To butter lobsters another way
Parboil your lobsters, then break the shells, pick out all the meat, cut it small, take the meat out of the body, mix it fine with a spoon in a little white wine: For example, a small lobster, one spoonful of wine, put it into a saucepan with the meat of the lobster, four spoonfuls of white wine, a blade of mace, a little, beaten pepper and salt. Let it stew all together a few minutes, then stir in a piece of butter, shake your saucepan round till your butter is melted, put in a spoonful of vinegar, and throw in as many crumbs of bread as will make it thick enough. When it is hot, pour it into your plate, and garnish with the chine of a lobster cut in four, peppered, salted and broiled. This makes a pretty plate, or a fine dish, with two or three lobsters. You may add one teaspoonful of fine sugar to your sauce.
To roast lobsters
Boil your lobsters, then lay them before the fire, and baste them with butter, till they have a fine froth. Dish them up with plain melted butter in a cup. This is as good a way to the full as roasting them, and not half the trouble.
To make a fine dish of lobsters
Take three lobsters, boil the largest as above, and froth it before the fire. Take the other two boiled, and butter them as in the foregoing receipt. Take the two body-shells, heat them hot, and fill them with the buttered men. Lay the large lobster in the middle, and the two shells on each side and the two great claws of the middle lobster at each end and the four pieces of chines of the two lobsters broiled, and laid on each end. This, if nicely done, makes a pretty dish.
At page 143
To dress a crab
Having taken out the meat, and cleansed it from the skin put it into a stewpan with half a pint of white wine, a little nutmeg, pepper and salt, over a low fire. Throw in a few crumbs of bread, beat up one yolk of an egg with one spoonful of vinegar, throw it in, then shake the saucepan round a minute, and serve it up on a plate.
To stew prawns, shrimps or crayfish
Pick out the tails, lay them by about two quarts, take the bodies, give them a bruise and put them into a pint of white wine with a blade of mace. Let them stew a quarter of an hour, stir them together and strain them; then wash out the saucepan, put to it the drained liquor and tails: Grate a small nutmeg in, add a little salt, and a quarter of a pound of butter rolled in flour; shake it all together, cut a pretty thin toast round a quarter of a peck loaf, toast it brown on both sides, cut it into six pieces, lay it close together in the bottom of your dish, and pour your fish and sauce over it. Send it to table hot. If it be crayfish or prawns, garnish your dish with some of the biggest claws, laid thick round. Water will do in the room of wine, only add a spoonful of vinegar.
To make collops of oysters
Put your oysters into scollop-shells for that purpose, set them on your gridiron over a good clear fire, let them stew till you think your oysters are enough, then have ready some crumbs of bread rubbed in a clean napkin, fill your shells and set them before a good fire, and baste them well with butter. Let them be of a fine brown, keeping them turning, to be brown all over alike; but a tin oven does them best before the fire. They eat much the best done this way, though most people stew the oysters first in a saucepan, with a blade of mace, thickened with a piece of butter and fill the shells, and then cover them with crumbs and brown them with a hot iron: But the bread has not the fine taste of the former.
To stew mussels
Wash them very clean from the sand in two or three waters, put them into a stewpan, cover them close, and let them stew till all the shells are opened; then take them out one by one, pick them out of the shells, and look under the tongue to see if there be a crab; if there is, you must throw away the mussel; some will only pick out the crab, and eat the mussel. When you have picked them all clean, put them into a saucepan; to a quart of mussels put half a pint of the liquor strained through a sieve, put in a blade or two of mace, a piece of butter as big as a large walnut rolled in flour; let them stew, toast some bread brown, and lay them round the dish, cut three-corner-ways; pour in the mussels, and send them to table hot.
At page 144
Another way to stew mussels
Clean and stew your mussels as in the foregoing receipt, only to a quart of mussels put in a pint of liquor and a quarter of a pound of butter rolled in a very little flour. When they are enough have some crumbs of bread ready and cover the bottom of your dish thick, grate half a nutmeg over them and pour the mussels and sauce all over the crumbs and send them to table.
A third way to dress mussels
Stew them as above, and lay them in your dish; strew your crumbs of bread thick all over them, then set them before a good fire, turning the dish round and round, that they may be brown all alike. Keep basting them with butter that the crumbs may be crisp and it will make a pretty side dish. You may do cockles the same way.
To stew scollops
Boil them very well in salt and water, take them out and stew them in a little of the liquor, a little white wine, a little vinegar, two or three blades of mace, two or three cloves, a piece of butter rolled in flour and the juice of a Seville orange. Stew them well and dish them up.
To ragout oysters
Take a quart of the largest oysters you can get, open them, save the liquor and drain it through a fine sieve. Wash your oysters in warm water, make a batter thus: Take two yolks of eggs, beat them well, grate in half a nutmeg, cut a little lemon-peel small, a good deal of parsley, a spoonful of the juice of spinach, two spoonfuls of cream or milk, beat it up with flour to a thick batter, have ready some batter in a stewpan, dip your oysters one by one into the batter, and have ready crumbs of bread, then roll them in it, and fry them quick and brown; some with the crumbs of bread, and some without. Take-them out of the pan, and set them before the fire, then have ready a quart of chestnuts shelled and skinned, fry them in the butter; when they are enough take them up, pour the fat out of the pan, shake a little flour all over the pan, and rub a piece of butter as big as a hen's egg all over the pan with your spoon till it is melted and thick; then put in the oyster liquor, three or four blades of mace, stir it round, put in a few pistachio nuts shelled, let them boil, then put in the chestnuts, and half a pint of white wine, have ready the yolks of two eggs beat up with two spoonfuls of cream; stir all well together, when it is thick and fine lay the oysters in the dish and pour the ragout over them. Garnish with chestnuts and lemon.
You may ragout mussels the same way. You may leave out the pistachio nuts if you don't like them but they give the sauce a fine flavour.
… at page 148
To grill shrimps
Season them with salt and pepper, shred parsley, butter and scollop shells well, add some grated bread and let them stew for half an hour. Brown them with an hot iron, and serve them up.
Buttered shrimps
Stew two quarts of shrimps in a pint of white wine, with nutmeg, beat up eight eggs with a little white wine and half a pound of butter, shaking the saucepan one way all the time over the fire till they are thick enough, lay toasted sippets round a dish, and pour them over it, so serve them up.
At page 149
Asparagus forced in French rolls
Take three French rolls, take out all the crumb by first cutting a piece of the top crust off but be careful that the crust fits again the same place. Fry the rolls brown in fresh butter; then take a pint of cream, the yolks of six eggs beat fine, a little salt and nutmeg, stir them well together over a slow fire till it begins to be thick. Have ready a hundred of small grass boiled, then save tops enough to stick the rolls with, the rest cut small and put into the cream; fill the loaves with them. Before you fry the rolls, make holes thick in the top-crust to stick the grass in; then lay on the piece of crust, and stick the grass in that it may look as if it was growing. It makes a pretty side dish at a second course.
To make oyster loaves
Fry the French rolls as above, take half a pint of oysters, stew them in their own liquor, then take out the oysters with a fork, drain the liquor to them, put them into a saucepan again with a glass of white wine, a little beaten mace, a little grated nutmeg, a quarter of a pound of butter rolled in flour, shake them well together, then put them into the rolls and these make a pretty side dish for a first course. You may rub in crumbs of two rolls, and toss up the oysters.
… at page 172
To make a salt fish pie
Get a side of salt fish, lay it in water all night, next morning put it over the fire in a pan of water till it is tender, drain it and lay on the dresser, take off all the skin and pick the meat clean from the bones, mince it small, then take the crumb of two French rolls, cut in slices and boiled up with a quart of new milk, break your bread very fine with a spoon, put to it your minced salt fish, a pound of melted butter, two spoonfuls of minced parsley, half a nutmeg grated, a little beaten pepper and three teaspoonfuls of mustard; mix all well together, make a good crust and lay all over your dish and cover it up. Bake it an hour.
At page 173
To make a carp pie
Take a large carp, scale, wash and gut it clean; take an eel, boil it just a little tender, pick off all the meat and mince it fine with an equal quantity of crumbs of bread, a few sweet herbs, a little lemon-peel cut fine, a little pepper, salt and grated nutmeg, an anchovy, half a pint of oysters parboiled and chopped fine, the yolks of three hard eggs cut small, roll it up with a quarter of a pound of butter, and fill the belly of the carp. Make a good crust, cover the dish and lay in your carp; save the liquor you boil your eel in, put in the eel bones, boil them with a little mace, whole pepper, an onion, some sweet herbs and an anchovy. Boil it till there is about half a pint, strain it, add to it a quarter of a pint of white wine and a lump of butter mixed in a very little flour; boil it up and pour into your pie. Put on the lid and bake it an hour in a quick oven. If there be any forcemeat left after filling the belly, make balls of it, and put into the pie. If you have not liquor enough, boil a few small eels to make enough to fill your dish.
To make a sole pie
Make a good crust, cover your dish, boil two pounds of eels tender, pick all the flesh clean from the bones, throw the bones into the liquor you boil the eels in, with a little mace and salt till it is very good, and about a quarter of a pint, then strain it. In the meantime cut the flesh of your eel fine, with a little lemon peel shred fine, a little salt, pepper and nutmeg, a few crumbs of bread, chopped parsley and an anchovy; melt a quarter of a pound of butter and mix with it, then lay it in the dish, cut the flesh of a pair of large soles, or three pair of very small ones, clean from the bones and fins, lay if on the force-meat and pour in the broth of the eels you boiled; put the lid of the pie on, and bake it. You should boil the bones of the soles with the eel bones to make it good. If you boil the sole bones with one or two little eels without the force-meat, your pie will be very good. And thus you may do a turbot.
To make an eel pie
Make a good crust, clean, gut and wash your eels very well, then cut them in pieces half as long as your finger; season them with pepper, salt and a little beaten mace to your palate, either high or low. Fill your dish with eels and put as much water the dish will well hold: put on your cover and bake them well.
To make a flounder pie
Get some flounders, wash them clean, dry them in a cloth, just boil them, cut off the meat clean from the bones, lay a good crust, over your dish and lay a little fresh butter at the bottom, and on that the fish, season them with pepper and salt to your mind. Boil the bones in the water your fish was boiled in, with a little bit of horseradish, a little parsley, very little bit of lemon peel and a crust of bread. Boil it till there is just enough liquor for the pie, then strain it and put it into your pie; put on the top crust and bake it.
At page 174
To make a herring pie
Scale, gut and wash them very clean, cut off the heads, fins and tails. Make a good crust, cover your dish then season your herrings with beaten mace, pepper and salt; put a little butter in the bottom of your dish, then a row of herrings; pare some apples and cut them in thin slices all over then peel some onions and cut them in slices all over thick, lay a little butter on the top, put in a little water, lay on the lid and bake it well.
To make a salmon pie
Make a good crust, cleanse a piece of salmon well, season it with salt, mace and nutmeg, lay a little piece of butter at the bottom of the dish and lay your salmon in. Melt butter according to your pie; take a lobster, boil it, pick out all the flesh, chop it small, bruise the body, mix it well with the butter which must be very good; pour it over your salmon, put on the lid and bake it well.
To make a lobster pie
Make a good crust, boil two lobsters, take out the tails, cut them in two, take out the gut, cut each tail in four pieces and lay them in the dish. Take the bodies, bruise them well with the claws and pick out all the rest of the meat; chop it all together, season it with pepper, salt and two or three spoonfuls of vinegar, melt half a pound of butter, stir all together with the crumb of a halfpenny roll rubbed in clean cloth small, lay it over the tails, put on your cover and bake it in a slow oven.
To make a mussel pie
Make a good crust, lay it all over the dish, wash your mussels clean in several waters, then put them in a deep stewpan, cover them, and let them stew till they all open, pick them out and see there be no crabs under the tongue; put them in a saucepan with two or three blades of mace, strain the liquor just enough to cover them, a good piece of butter and a few crumbs of bread; stew them a few minutes, fill your pie, put on the lid and bake it half an hour. So you may make an oyster pie.
At page 175
To collar salmon
Take a side of salmon, cut off about a handful of the tail, wash your large piece very well, dry it with a clean cloth, then wash it over with yolks of eggs, and then make force-meat with that you cut off the tail; but take off the skin, and put to it a handful of parboiled oysters, a tail or two of lobsters, the yolks of three or four eggs boiled hard, six anchovies, a handful of sweet herbs chopped small, a little salt, cloves, mace, nutmeg, pepper beat fine, and grated bread; work all these together into a body with the yolks of eggs, lay it all over the fleshy part, and a little more pepper and salt over the salmon; so roll it up into a collar, and bind it with broad tape, then boil it in water, salt and vinegar; but let the liquor boil first, then put in your collars, a bunch of sweet herbs, sliced ginger, and nutmeg; let it boil, but not too fast. It will take near two hours boiling. When it is enough, take it up into your sousing-pan, and when the pickle is cold, put it to your salmon, and let it stand in it till used; or otherwise you may pot it. Fill it up with clarified butter as you pot fowls; that way will keep longest.
To collar eels
Take your eel and cut it open, take out the bones cut off the head and tail, lay the eel flat on the dresser and shred some sage as fine as possible and mix with it black pepper beat, grated nutmeg and salt, lay it all over the eel, roll it up hard in little cloths and tie both ends tight; then set over the fire some water with pepper and salt, five or six cloves, three or four blades of mace, a bay leaf or two. Boil its bones, head and tail well together; then take out your heads and tails, put in your eels and let them boil till they are tender, then take them out and boil the liquor longer till you think there is enough to cover them. Take it off, and when cold pour it over the eels, and cover it close. Don't take off the cloths till you use them.
To pickle or bake herrings
Scale and wash them clean, cut off the heads, take out the roes, or wash them clean and put them in again just as you like. Season them with a little mace and cloves beat, a very little beaten pepper and salt, lay them in a deep pan, lay two or three bay leaves between each lay, then put in half vinegar and half water, or rap vinegar. Cover it close with a brown paper and send it to the oven to bake; let it stand till cold then pour off that pickle and put fresh vinegar and water and send them to the oven again to bake. Thus do sprats; but don't bake them the second time. Some use only all spice, but that is not so good.
To pickle or bake mackrel, to keep all the year
Gut them, cut off their heads, cut them open, dry them very well with a clean cloth, take a pan which they will lie cleverly in, lay a few bay-leaves at the bottom, rub the bone with a little bay-salt beat fine, take a little beaten mace, a few cloves beat fine, black and white pepper beat fine, mix a little salt, rub them inside and out with the spice, lay them in the pan, and between every lay of the mackrel put a few bay leaves, then cover them with vinegar, tie them down close with brown paper, put them into a slow oven, they will take a good while doing; when they are enough uncover them, let them stand till cold then pour away all that vinegar and put as much good vinegar as will cover them and put in an onion stuck with cloves. Send them to the oven again, let them stand two hours in a very slow oven and they will keep all the year; but, you must not put in your hands to take out the mackrel, if you can avoid it, but take a slice to take them out with. The great bones of the mackrel take out and boiled is a pretty little plate to fill up a corner of a table.
At page 176
To souse mackrel
You must wash them clean, gut them and boil them in salt and water till they are enough; take them out, lay them in a clean pan, cover them with the liquor, add a little vinegar and when you send them to table lay fennel over them.
To pot a lobster
Take a live lobster, boil it in salt and water and peg it that no water gets in; when it is cold, pick out all the flesh and body, take out the gut, beat it in a mortar fine and season it with beaten mace, grated nutmeg, pepper and salt. Mix all together, melt a little piece of butter as big as a large walnut and mix it with the lobster as you are beating it; when it is beat to a paste put it into your potting pot, and put it down as close and hard as you can; then set some fresh butter in a deep broad pan before the fire and when it is all melted take off the scum at the top, if any, and pour the clear butter over the meat as thick as a crown piece. The whey and churn milk will settle at the bottom of the pan, but take great care none of that goes in and always let your butter be very good or you will spoil all; or only put the meat whole, with the body mix'd among it, laying them as close together as you can, and pour the butter over them. You must be sure to let the lobster be well boiled. A middling one will take half an hour boiling.
To pot eels
Take a large eel, skin it, cleanse it and wash it very clean, dry it in a cloth, and cut it into pieces as long as your finger. Season them with a little beaten mace and nutmeg, pepper and salt, and a little sal prunella (Editor: potassium nitrate - saltpetre - was used since the Middle Ages as a food preservative) beat fine; lay them in a pan, then pour as much good butter over them as will cover them and clarified as above. They must be baked half an hour in a quick oven; if a slow oven longer till they are enough but that you must judge by the largeness of the eels. With a fork take them out and lay them on a coarse cloth to drain. When they are quite cold season them again with the same seasoning, lay them in the pot close, then take off the butter they were baked in clear from the gravy of the fish, and set in a dish before the fire. When it is melted pour the clear butter over the eels and let them be covered with butter.
In the same manner you may pot what you please. You may bone your eels if you choose it but then don't put in any sal prunella.
At page 177
To pot lampreys
Skin them, cleanse them with salt and then wipe them dry; beat some black pepper, mace and cloves, mix them with salt and season them. Lay them in a pan, and cover them with clarified butter. Bake them an hour; order them as the eels, only let them be seasoned, and one will be enough for a pot. You must season them well, let your butter be good, and they will keep a long time.
To pot charrs
After, having cleansed them, cut off the fins, tails and heads, then lay them in rows in a long baking-pan; cover them with butter, and order them as above.
To pot a pike
You must scale it, cut off the head, split it and take out the chine-bone, then strew all over the inside some bay-salt and pepper, roll it up round and lay it in a pot. Cover it and bake it an hour. Then take it out and lay it on a coarse cloth to drain; when it is cold put it into your pot and cover it with clarified butter.
To pot salmon
Take a piece of fresh salmon, scale it and wipe it clean (let your piece, or pieces, be as big as will lie cleverly on your pot); season it with Jamaica pepper, black pepper, mace and cloves beat fine, mix'd with salt, a little sal prunella beat fine and rub the bone with. Season with a little of the spice, pour clarified butter over it, and bake it well. Then take it out carefully and lay it to drain; when cold, season it well, lay it in your pot close and cover it with clarified butter as above.
Thus you may do carp, tench, trout and several sorts of fish.
Another way to pot salmon
Scale and clean your salmon down the back, dry it well and cut it as near the shape of your pot as you can. Take two nutmegs, an ounce of mace and cloves beaten, half an ounce of white pepper, and an ounce of salt; then take out all the bones, cut off the jole (Editor: obsolete spelling of jowl) below the fins, and cut off the tail. Season the scaly side first, lay that at the bottom of the pot, then rub the seasoning on the other side, cover it with a dish and let it stand all night. It must be put double and the scaly side top and bottom; put butter bottom and top, and cover the pot with some stiff coarse paste. Three hours will bake it if a large fish; if a small one, two hours and when it comes out of the oven let it stand half an hour; then uncover it, and raise it up at one end that the gravy may run out, then put a trencher and a weight on it to press out the gravy. When the butter is cold, take it out clear from the gravy, add some more to it, and put it in a pan before the fire; when it is melted pour it over the salmon and when it is cold paper it up. As to the seasoning of these things, it must be according to your palate, more or less.
Note, always take great care that no gravy or whey of the butter is left in the potting; if there is, it will not keep.
At page 178
Chapter X
Directions for the sick
At page 180
To boil a plaice or flounder
Let your water boil, throw some salt in, then put in your fish, boil it till you think it is enough, and take it out of the water in a slice to drain. Take two spoonfuls of the liquor with a little salt, a little grated nutmeg, then beat up the yolk of an egg very well with the liquor and stir in the egg; beat it well together; with a knife carefully slice away all the little bones round the fish, pour the sauce over it, then set it over a chafing-dish of coals for a minute, and send it hot away. Or in the room of this sauce, add melted butter in a cup.
At page 184
Chapter XI
For captains of ships
To make catchup to keep twenty years
Take a gallon of strong stale beer, one pound of anchovies washed from the pickle, a pound of shallots peeled, half an ounce of mace, half an ounce of cloves, a quarter of an ounce of whole pepper, three or four large races of ginger, two quarts of the large mushroom-flaps rubbed to pieces. Cover all this close, and let it simmer till it is half wasted, then drain it through a flannel bag; let it stand till it is quite cold, then bottle it. You may carry it to the Indies. A spoonful of this to a pound of fresh butter melted makes fine fish-sauce: or in the room of gravy-sauce. The stronger and staler the beer is, the better the catchup will be.
To make fish sauce to keep the whole year
You must take twenty-four anchovies, chop them bones and all, put to them ten shallots cut small, a handful of scraped horseradish, a quarter of an ounce of mace, a quart of white wine, a pint of water, one lemon cut into slices, half a pint of anchovy liquor, a pint of red wine, twelve cloves and twelve peppercorns. Boil them together till it comes to a quart; strain it off, cover it close and keep it in a cool dry place. Two spoonfuls will be sufficient for a pound of butter.
It is a pretty sauce either for boiled fowl, veal, &c. or in the room of gravy, lowering it with hot water and thicken it with a piece of butter rolled in flour.
At page 185
To pickle mushrooms for the sea
Wash them clean with a piece of flannel in salt and water, put them into a saucepan and throw a little salt over them. Let them boil up three times in their own liquor, then throw them into a sieve to drain and spread them on a clean cloth; let them lie till cold, then put them in wide-mouth'd bottles, put in with them a good deal of whole mace, a little nutmeg sliced, and a few cloves. Boil the sugar-vinegar of your own making with a good deal of whole pepper, some races of ginger, and two or three bay leaves. When it is cold pour it on, and fill the bottle with mutton fat fried; cork them, tie a bladder then a leather over them, keep it down close and in as cool a place as possible. As to all other pickles, you have them in the chapter pickles.
At page 186
To dress fish
As to frying fish, first wash it very clean, then dry it well and flour it; take some of the beef-dripping, make it boil in the stewpan, then throw in your fish and fry it of a fine light brown. Lay it on the bottom of a sieve or coarse cloth to drain and make sauce according to your fancy.
To bake fish
Butter the pan, lay in the fish, throw a little salt over it and flour; put a very little water in the dish, an onion and a bundle of sweet herbs, stick some little bits of butter or the fine dripping on the fish. Let it be baked of a fine light brown; when enough, lay it on a dish before the fire and skim off all the fat in the pan; strain the liquor, and mix it up either with the fish sauce or strong soup or the catchup.
Chapter XIII
To pot and make hams etc
At page 195
To collar salmon
Take a side of salmon, and cut off about a handful of the tail, wash your large piece very well, and dry it with a cloth; then wash it over with the yolks of eggs, then make some force-meat with that you cut off the tail, but take care of the skin, and put to it a handful of the parboiled oysters, a tail or two of lobster, the yolks of three or four eggs boiled hard, six anchovies, a good handful of sweet herbs chopped small, a little salt, cloves, mace, nutmeg, pepper, all beat fine and grated bread. Work all these together into a body, with the yolks of eggs, lay it all over the fleshy part, and a little more pepper and salt over the salmon; so roll it up into a collar and bind it with broad tape; then boil it in water, salt and vinegar, but let the liquor boil first, then put in your collar, a bunch of sweet herbs, sliced ginger,and nutmeg. Let it boil, but not too fast. It will take near two hours boiling and when it is enough, take it up, put it into your sousing-pan, and when the pickle is cold put it to your salmon, and let it stand in it till used. Or you may pot it, after it is boiled pour clarified butter over it. It will keep longest so; but either way is good. If you pot it, be sure the butter be the nicest you can get.
At page 198
To pickle mackrel call'd caveach
Cut your mackrel into round pieces and divide one into five or six pieces: To six large mackrel you may take one ounce of beaten pepper, three large nutmegs, a little mace, and a handful of salt. Mix your salt and beaten spice together, then make two or three holes in each piece and thrust the seasoning into the holes with your finger, rub the piece all over with the seasoning, fry them brown in oil, and let them stand till they are cold; then put them into vinegar and cover them with oil. They will keep covered a great while and are delicious.
Chapter XIV
Of pickling
At page 206
To pickle oysters, cockles and mussels
Take two hundred of oysters, the newest and best you can get, be careful to save the liquor in some pan as you open them, cut off the black verge saving the rest, put them into their own liquor, then put all the liquor and oyster left into a kettle, boil them about half an hour on a very gentle fire, do them very slowly skimming them as the scum rises, then take them off the fire, take out the oysters, strain the liquor through a fine cloth then put in the oysters again; then take out a pint of the liquor whilst it is hot, put thereto three quarters of an ounce of mace and half an ounce of cloves. Just give it one boil, then put it to the oysters and stir up the spices well among the oysters then put in about a spoonful of salt, three quarters of a pint of the best white wine vinegar, and a quarter of an ounce of whole pepper; then let them stand till they be cold, then put the oysters as many as you well can into a barrel, put in as much liquor as the barrel will hold, letting them settle a while, and they will soon be fit to eat, or you may put them into stone jars, cover them close with a bladder and leather, and be sure they be quite cold before you cover them up. Thus do cockles and mussels, only this, cockles are small, and to this spice you must have at least two quarts, nor is there any thing to pick off them. Mussels you must have two quarts, take great care to pick the crab out under the tongue, and a little fus which grows at the root of the tongue. The two latter, cockles and mussels, must be washed in several waters, to clean them from the grit, put them in a stewpan by themselves; cover them close, and when they are open pick them out of the shells and drain the liquor.
At page 207
To pickle samphire
Take the samphire that is green, lay it in clean pan, throw two or three handfuls of salt over, and cover it with spring water. Let it lie twenty-four hours, then put it into a clean brass saucepan, throw in a handful of salt and cover it with good vinegar. Cover the pan close, and set it over a very slow fire; let it stand till it is just green and crisp, then take it off in a moment, for if it stands to be soft it is spoiled; put it in your pickling-pot and cover it close. When it is cold, tie it down with a bladder and leather and keep it for use. Or you may keep it all the year in a very strong brine of salt and water, and throw it into vinegar just before you use it.
Chapter XIX
To make anchovies, vermicella, catchup , vinegar and to keep artichokes, French beans, &c
At page 237
To make anchovies
To a peck of sprats, two pounds of common salt, a quarter of a pound of bay-salt, four pounds of saltpetre, two ounces of sal prunella, two-pennyworth of cochineal, pound all in a mortar, put them into a stone pot, a row of sprats, a layer of your compound, and so on to the top alternately. Press them hard down, cover them close, let them stand six months and they will be fit for use. Observe that your sprats be very fresh, and don't wash nor wipe them but just take them as they come out of the water.
To pickle smelts where you have plenty
Take a quarter of a peck of smelts, half an ounce of pepper, half an ounce of nutmeg, a quarter of an ounce of mace, half an ounce of petre-salt, a quarter of a pound of common salt, beat all very fine, wash and clean the smelts, gut them, then lay them in rows in a jar, and between every layer of smelts strew the seasoning with four or five bay-leaves, then boil red wine, and pour over them enough to cover them. Cover them with a plate, and when cold tie them down close. They exceed anchovies.
At page 238
To make catchup
Take the large flaps of mushrooms, pick nothing but the straws and dirt from it, then lay them in a broad earthen pan, strew a good deal of salt over them, let them lie till next morning, then with your hand break them, put them into a stewpan, let them boil a minute or two, then drain them through a coarse cloth, and wring it hard. To take out all the juice, let it stand to settle, then pour it off clear, run it through a thick flannel bag (some filter it through brown paper, but that is a very tedious way) then boil it, to a quart of the liquor put a quarter of an ounce of whole ginger, and half a quarter of an ounce of whole pepper. Boil it briskly a quarter of an hour, then drain it, and when it is cold put it into pint bottles. In each bottle put four or five blades of mace and six cloves, cork it tight, and it will keep two years. This gives the best flavour of the mushrooms to any sauce. If you put to a pint of this catchup a pint of mum (Editor: 'mum' is a sort of strong beer, originally made in Brunswick, Germany) it will taste like foreign catchup.
Another way to make catchup
Take the large flaps, and slit them as above; boil the liquor, strain it through a thick flannel bag: To a quart of that liquor put a quart of stale beer, a large stick of horseradish cut in little slips, five or six bay-leaves, an onion stuck with twenty or thirty cloves, a quarter of an ounce of mace, a quarter of an ounce of nutmegs beat, a quarter of an ounce of black and white pepper, a quarter of an ounce of all-spice, and four or five races of ginger. Cover it close, and let it simmer very softly till about one third is wasted then strain it through a flannel bag; when it is cold bottle it in pint bottles, cork it close, and it will keep a great while. You may put red wine in the room of beer; some put in a head of garlick, but I think that spoils it. The other receipt you have in the chapter for the sea.
At page 241
To fry smelts
Lay your smelts in a marinade of vinegar, salt, pepper and bay leaves and cloves for a few hours; then dry them in a napkin, drudge them well with flour and have ready some butter hot in a stewpan. Fry them quick, lay them in your dish and garnish with fried parsley.
At page 244
Chapter XXI
How to market and the seasons of the year for butchers meat, poultry, fish, herbs, roots, & c. and fruit
At page 250
Candlemas Quarter
Fish in season
Lobsters, crabs, crayfish, river crayfish, guard-fish, mackerel, breams, barbel, roach, shad or alloc, lamprey or lamper-eels, dace, bleak, prawnes and horse-mackerel.
The eels that are taken in running water are better than pond eels; of those the silver ones are most esteemed.
Midsummer Quarter
Turbuts and trouts, soles, grigs, shafllins and glout, tenes, salmon, dolphin, flying-fish, sheep head, tollis, both Jand and sea, sturgeon, seale, chubb, lobsters and crabs.
Sturgeon is a fish commonly found in the northern seas; but now and then we find them in our great rivers, the Thames, the Severn, and the Tyne. This fish is of a very large size and will sometimes measure eighteen feet in length. They are much esteemed when fresh, cut in pieces, and roasted or baked, or pickled for cold treats. The caviar is esteemed a dainty, which is the spawn of this fish. The latter end of this quarter comes smelts.
Michaelmas quarter
Cod and haddock, coal fish, white and pouting hake, lyng, tuske and mullet, red and grey, weaver, gurnet, rocket, herrings, sprats, soles and flounders, plaice, dabs and smeare-dabs, eels, chare, skate, thornbacks, and humlyn, kinson, oysters and scollops, salmon, sea perch and carp, pike, tench, and sea tench.
Skate maides are black, and thornback maides white. Gray bass comes with the mullet.
In this quarter are fine smelts, and hold till after Christmas.
There are two sorts of mullets, the sea mullet and river mullet, both equally good.
At page 251
Christmas Quarter
Dorey, brile, gudgeons, gollin, smelts, crouch, perch, anchovy and loach, scollop and wilks, periwinkles, cockles, mussels, geare, bearber and hollebet.
How to chuse fish
To chufe salmon, pike, trout, carp, tench, grailing, barbel, chubb, ruff, eel, whiting, smelt, shad &c
All these are known to be new or stale by the colour of their gills, their easiness or hardness to open the hanging or keeping up their fins, the standing out or sinking of their eyes, &c and by smelling their gills.
Turbutt
He is chosen by his thickness and plumpness, and if his belly be of a cream colour, he must spend well; but if thin and his belly of a bluish white, he will eat very loose.
Cod and codling
Chuse him by his thickness towards his head and the whiteness of his flesh when if is cut: And so of a codling.
Ling
For dried ling, chuse that which is thickest in the poll and the flesh of the brightest yellow.
Skate and thornback
These are chosen by their thickness, and the she skate is the sweetest, especially if large.
Soals
These are chosen by their thickness and stiffness; when their bellies are of a cream colour, they spend the firmer.
Sturgeon
If it cuts without crumbling, and the veins and gristles give a true blue where they appear and the flesh a perfect white, then conclude it to be good.
Fresh herrings and mackerel
If their gills are of a lively shining redness, their eyes stand full, and the fish is stiff, then they are new; but if dusky and faded or sinking and wrinkled, and tails limber, they are stale.
Lobsters
Chuse them by their weight, the heaviest are best if no water be in them: if new, the tail will be full smart, like a spring; if full, the middle of the tail will be full of hard, reddish-skinned meat. Cock lobster is known by the narrow back part of the tail and the two uppermost fins within his tail are stiff and hard but the hen is soft and the back of her tail broader.
At page 252
Prawns, shrimps and crabfish
The two first, if stale, will be limber and cast a kind of slimy smell, their colour fading and they slimy: the latter will be limber in their claws and joints, their red colour turn blackish and dusky and will have an ill smell under their throats, otherwise all of them be good.
Plaice and flounders
If they are stiff and their eyes be not sunk or look dull they are new, the contrary when stale. The best sort of plaice look bluish on the belly.
Pickled salmon
If the flesh feels oily, and the scales are stiff and shining and it comes in flakes and parts without crumbling, then it is new and good, and not otherwise.
Pickled and red herrings
For the first, open the back to the bone, and if the flesh be white, sleaky and oily, and the bone white or a bright red, they are good. If red herrings carry a good gloss part well from the bone and smell well, then conclude them to be good.
Chapter XXII
At page 254
A certain cure for the bite of a mad dog
Let the patient be blooded at the arm nine or ten ounces. Take of the herb, called in Latin lichen cinereus terresiris; in English, ash-caloured ground liverwort, cleaned, dried and powdered, half and ounce; of black pepper powdered, two drachms. Mix these well together and divide the powder into four doses, one of which must be taken every morning fasting for four mornings successively in half a pint of cow's milk warm. After these four doses are taken, the patient must go into the cold bath or a cold spring, or river every morning fasting for a month. He must be dipped all over, but not stay in (with his head above water) longer than half a minute if the water be very cold. After this he must go in three times a week for a fortnight longer.
N. B. The lichen is a very common herb, and grows generally in sandy and barren soils all over England. The right time to gather it is in the months of October and November.
Dr. Mead
Another for the bite of a mad dog
For the bite of a mad dog, either man or beast: Take six ounces of rue clean picked and bruised, four ounces of garlic peeled and bruised, four ounces of Venice treacle and four ounces of filed pewter, or scraped tin. Boil these in two quarts of the best ale in a pan covered close over a gentle fire, for the space of an hour, then drain the ingredients from the liquor. Give eight or nine spoonfuls of it warm to a man, or a woman, three mornings fasting. Eight or nine spoonfuls is sufficient for the strongest; a lesser quantity to those younger, or of a weaker constitution as you may judge of their strength. Ten or twelve spoonfuls for a horse, or a bullock; three, four or five to sheep, hog, or dog. This must be given within nine days after the bite; it seldom fails in man or beast. If you can conveniently bind some of the ingredients on the wound, it will be so much the better.
At page 255
Receipt against the Plague
Take of rue, sage, mint, rosemary, wormwood and lavender, a handful of each; infuse them together in a gallon of white wine vinegar, put the whole into a stone pot closely covered up upon warm wood ashes for four days, after which draw off (or strain through fine flannel) the liquid and put it into bottles well-corked; and into every quart bottle put a quarter of an ounce of camphire (Editor: Lawsonia alba, henna). With this preparation wash your mouth and rub your loins and your temples every day; snuff a little up your nostrils when you go into the air and carry about you a bit of sponge dipped in the same in order to smell to upon all occasions, especially when you are near any place or person that is infected. They write, that four malefactors (who had robbed the infected houses and murdered the people during the course of the plague) owned, when they came to the gallows, that they had preserved themselves from the contagion by using the above medicine only and that they went the whole time from house to house without any fear of the distemper.
How to keep clear from buggs
First take out of your room all silver and gold lace, then set the chairs about the room, shut up your windows and doors, tack a blanket over each window, and before the chimney, and over the doors of the room, set open all closets and cupboard doors, all your draws and boxes, hang the rest of your bedding on the chair-backs, lay the feather-bed on a table, then set a large broad earthen pan in the middle of the room and in that set a chafing-dish that stands on feet, full of charcoal well lighted. If your room is very bad, a pound of rolled brimstone; if only a few, half a pound. Lay it on the charcoal and get out of the room as quick as possible, or it will take away your breath. Shut your door close with the blanket over it, and be sure to set it so as nothing can catch fire. If you have any India pepper throw in with the brimstone. You must take care to have the door open whilst you lay in the brimstone that you may get out as soon as possible. Don't open the door under six hours, and then you must be very careful how you go in to open the windows: therefore let the doors stand open an hour before you open the windows. Then brush and sweep your room very clean, wash it well with boiling lee or boiling water with a little unslacked lime in it, get a pint of spirits of wine, a pint of spirit of turpentine, and an ounce of camphire; shake all well together, and with a bunch of feathers wash your bedstead very well, and sprinkle the rest over the feather-bed, and about the wainscot and room.
If you find great swarms about the room, and same not dead, do this over again and you will be quite clear. Every spring and fall, wash your bedstead with half a pint and you will never have a bugg; but if you find any come in with new goods, of box, &c. only wash your bedstead and sprinkle all over your bedding and bed, and you will be clear; but be sure to do it as soon as you find one. If your room is very bad it will be well to paint the room after the brimstone is burnt in it. This never fails, if rightly done.
An effectual way to clear the bedstead of buggs
Take quicksilver and mix it well in a mortar with the white of an egg till the quicksilver is all well mixt, and there is no blubbers (Editor: from Middle English bluber, bubbles); then beat up some white of an egg very fine and mix with the quicksilver till it is like a fine ointment, then with a feather anoint the bedstead all over in every creek, and corner and about the lacing and binding where you think there is any. Do this two or three times and it is a certain cure and will not spoil anything.
Additions
At page 260
To make English catchup
Take the largest flaps of mushrooms, wipe them dry but don't peel them, break them to pieces, and salt them very well; let them stand so in an earthen pan for nine days stirring them once or twice a day, then put them into a jugg close stopped set into water over a fire for three hours then strain it through a sieve, and to every quart of the juice, put a pint of strong stale mummy beer, not bitter, a quarter of a pound of anchovies, a quarter of an ounce of mace, the same of cloves, half an ounce of pepper, a race of ginger, half a pound of shallots then boil them all together over a slow fire till half the liquor is wasted, keeping the pot close covered; then drain it through a flannel bag. If the anchovies don't make it salt enough, add a little salt.
Appendix
At page 265
Minced haddocks after the Dutch way
Boil them, take out all the bones, mince them very fine with parsley and onions; season with nutmeg, pepper and salt, and stew them in butter just enough to keep moist, squeeze the juice of a lemon and when cold mix them up with eggs and put into a puff paste.
To dress haddocks after the Spanish way
Your haddock being washed very clean and dried, broil it nicely, then take a quarter of a pint of oil in a stewpan, season it with mace, cloves, and nutmeg, pepper and salt, two cloves of garlick, some love apples, when in season, a little vinegar; put in the fish, cover it close and let it stew half an hour over a slow fire.
Flounders may be done the same way and are very good.
To dress haddocks the Jews' way
Wash, two large fine haddocks very clean, cut them in slices about three inches thick and dry them in a cloth; take a gill either of oil or butter in a stewpan, a middling sized onion cut small, a handful of parsley washed and cut small; let it just boil up in either butter or oil then put in the fish; season it with beaten mace, pepper and salt, half a pint of soft water; let it stew softly till it is thoroughly done then beat up the yolks of two eggs with the juice of a lemon and just as it is done enough throw it over and send it to table.
At page 266
Fish pasties the Italian wayKnead your flour with oil; take a slice of salmon, season it with pepper and salt and dip into sweet oil, chop onion and parsley fine, and strew over it; lay it in the paste, and double it up in the shape of a slice of salmon: oil a piece of white paper and lay it under the pasty and bake it; it is best cold and will keep a month.
Mackrel done the same manner; head and tail together folded in a pasty is a fine dish.
At page 267
The Italians, French, Portuguese and Spaniards, have variety of peculiar ways of peculiar ways of dressing fish which we have not, such as:
Making fish-soups, ragouts, pies &c
For their soups they use no gravy nor in their sauces thinking it improper to mix flesh and fish together; but make their fish soups with fish, viz either of crayfish, lobsters &c taking only the juice of them. For example:
At page 268
They take their crayfish, tie them up in a muslin rag and boil them; then press out the juice for the purposes above-mentioned.
For their pies
They make some of carp; others of different fish and some they make like our minced pies, viz., they cut the flesh from the bones of the carp and mince it adding currants & c.
At page 285
To make chouder, a sea dish
Slice off the fatter parts from a belly-piece of pickled pork and lay them at the bottom of the kettle, strew over it onions and such sweet herbs as you can procure. Take a largish cod, bone and slice it for crimping, pepper, salt, all-spice and flour it a little, make a layer with part of the slices; upon that a slight layer of pork again and on that a layer of biscuit and so on, pursuing the like rule until the kettle is filled to about four inches: cover it with a nice paste, pour in about a pint of water, lute down the cover of the kettle and let the top be supplied with live wood embers. Keep it over a slow fire about four hours.
When you take it up, lay it in the dish, pour in a glass of hot Madeira wine and a very little India pepper: if you have oysters or truffles and morels, it is still better; thicken it with butter. Observe, before you put this sauce in to skim the stew and then lay on the crust, and send it to table reverse as in the kettle; cover it close with the paste which should be brown.
At page 293
Of preserving salmon and all sorts of fish the Jews' way
Take either cod, salmon, or any large fish, cut off the head, wash it clean and cut it in slices as crimp'd cod is, dry it very well in a cloth then flour it and dip it in yolks of eggs and fry it in a great deal of oil till it is of a fine brown and well done. Take it out and lay it to drain till it is very dry and cold. Whitings, mackarel and flat fish are done whole; when they are quite dry and cold lay them in your pan or vessel, throw in between them a large quantity of mace, cloves and sliced nutmeg, a few bay leaves; have your pickle ready, made of the best white wine vinegar, in which you must boil a great many cloves of garlick and shallot, black and white pepper, Jamaica and long pepper, juniper berries and salt; when the garlick begins to be tender, the pickle is enough: when it is quite cold pour it on your fish and a little oil on the top. They will keep good a twelve month and are to be eat cold with oil and vinegar: they will go good to to the East Indies. All sorts of fish fried well in oil, eat very fine cold with shallot, or oil and vinegar. Observe in the pickling of your fish to have the pickle ready: first put a little pickle in, then a layer of fish, then pickle, then a little fish and so lay them down very close and to be well covered; put a little saffron in the pickle. Frying fish in common oil is not so expensive with care; for present use a little does and if the cook is careful not to burn the oil, or black it, it will fry them two or three times.
The manner of dressing various sorts of dried fish as stock-fish, salmon, cod, whitings &c
The general rule for steeping of fried fish, the stock-fish excepted
All kinds of fish, except stock-fish, are salted or either dried in the sun as the most common way, or in prepared kilns, or by the smoke of wood fires in chimney corners; and in either case require the being softened and freshened in proportion to their bulk, their nature or dryness; the very dry sort, as codfish, bacalo or whiting and such like should be steeped in lukewarm milk and water, the steeping kept as near as possible to an equal degree of heat. The larger fish should be steeped twelve, the small, as whiting &c, about two hours. The cod are therefore laid to steep in the evening, the whitings &c in morning before they are to be dressed; after the time of steeping they are to be taken out and hung up by the tails until they are dressed: the reason of hanging them up is that they soften equally as in the steeping without extracting too much of the relish which would make them insipid; when thus prepared the small fish, as whiting, tusk and such like, are flowered and laid on the gridiron and when a little hardened on the one side must be turned and basted with oil upon a feather and when basted on both sides and well hot through, taken up always observing that as sweet oil supples and supplies the fish with a kind of artificial juices, so the fire draws out those juices and hardens them; therefore be careful not to let them broil too long; no time can be prescribed because of the difference of fires and the sizes of the fish. A clear charcoal fire is much the best, and the fish kept at a good distance to broil gradually: the best way to know when they are enough is they will swell a little in the basting and you must not let them fall again.
The sauces are the same as usual to salt-fish and garnish with oysters fried in batter.
For a supper, for those that love sweet oil, the best sauce is oil, vinegar, and mustard beat up to a consistence and served up in saucers.
If boiled as the great fish usually are, it should be in milk and water, but not so properly boiled as kept just simmering over an equal fire in which way half an hour will do the largest fish and five minutes the smallest. Some broil both sorts after simmering and some pick them to pieces and then toss them up in a pan with fried onions and apples.
They are either way very good and the choice depends on the weak or strong stomach of the eaters.
Dried salmon must be differently managed
Dried salmon, though a large fish, does not require more steeping than a whiting and when laid on the gridiron should be moderately peppered.
The dried herring
Instead of milk and water, should be steeped the like time as the whiting, in small beer, and to which as to all kind of broiled salt-fish, sweet oil will always be found the best basting and no way affect even the delicacy of those who do not love oil.
Stock fish
Are very different from those we have just mentioned; they being dried in the frost without salt are in their kind very insipid and are only eatable by the ingredients that make them so and the art of cookery. They should be first beat with a sledge hammer on an iron anvil or on a very solid, smooth oaken block and when reduced almost to atoms the skin and bones taken away and the remainder of the fish steeped in milk and warm water until very soft, then strained out and put into a soup dish with new milk, powdered cinnamon, mace and nutmeg; the chief part cinnamon a paste round the edge of the dish and put in a temperate oven to simmer for about an hour, and then served up in the place of pudding.
At page 295
N. B. The inhabitants of Italy eat the skin boiled, either hot or cold, and most usually with oil and vinegar preferring the skin to the body of the fish.
The way of curing mackrel
Get some fresh mackrel, split them down the backs, open them flat, take out the guts, and wash them very clean from the blood, hang them up by the tails to drain well; do this in the cool of the evening or in a very cool place; strew salt at the bottom of the pan, sprinkle the fish well with clean salt, lay them in the pan belly to belly and back to back; let them lie in the salt above twelve hours, wash the salt clean off in the pickle, hang them again up by the tails half an hour to drain, pepper the insides moderately and lay them to dry on inclining stones facing the sun never leaving them out when the sun is off, nor lay them out before the fun has dispersed the dews and the stones you lay them on be dry and warm. A week's time of fine weather perfectly cures them. When cured hang them up by the tails, belly to belly, in a very dry place, but not in sea-coal smoak as it will spoil their flavour.
To dress cured mackrel
Fry them in boiling oil and lay them to drain or broil them before, or on a very clear fire, in the latter case baste them with oil and a feather; sauce will be very little wanting as they will be very moist and mellow, if good in kind; otherwise you may use melted butter and crimped parsley.