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butter and flour.
Mode.--Clean and crimp the tench; carefully lay it in a stewpan with the stock, wine, salt and pepper, and bay-leaf; let it stew gently for 1/2 hour; then take it out, put it on a dish, and keep hot. Strain the liquor, and thicken it with butter and flour kneaded together, and stew for 5 minutes. If not perfectly smooth, squeeze it through a tammy, add a very little cayenne, and pour over the fish. Garnish with balls of veal forcemeat.
Time.--Rather more than 1/2 hour. Seasonable from October to June.
A SINGULAR QUALITY IN THE TENCH.--It is said that the tench is possessed of such healing properties among the finny
tribes, that even the voracious pike spares it on this account.
The pike, fell tyrant of the liquid plain,
With ravenous waste devours his fellow train; Yet howsoe'er with raging famine pined,
The tench he spares, a medicinal kind;
For when by wounds distress'd, or sore disease,
He courts the salutary fish for ease;
Close to his scales the kind physician glides, And sweats a healing balsam from his sides.
In our estimation, however, this self-denial in the pike may be attributed to a less poetical cause; namely, from the mud-loving disposition of the tench, it is enabled to keep itself so completely concealed at the bottom of its aqueous haunts, that it remains secure from the attacks of its predatory neighbour.
STEWED TROUT.
336. INGREDIENTS.--2 middling-sized trout, 1/2 onion cut in thin slices, a little parsley, 2 cloves, 1 blade of mace, 2 bay-leaves, a
little thyme, salt and pepper to taste, 1 pint of medium stock No. 105, 1 glass of port wine, thickening of butter and flour.
Mode.--Wash the fish very clean, and wipe it quite dry. Lay it in a stewpan, with all the ingredients but the butter and flour, and sim-mer gently for 1/2 hour, or rather more, should not the fish be quite done. Take it out, strain the gravy, add the thickening, and stir it over a sharp fire for 5 minutes; pour it over the trout, and serve.
Time.--According to size, 1/2 hour or more. Average cost.--Seldom bought.
Seasonable from May to September, and fatter from the middle to the end of August than at any other time.
Sufficient for 4 persons.
Trout may be served with anchovy or caper sauce, baked in buttered paper, or fried whole like smelts. Trout dressed a la Genevese is
extremely delicate; for this proceed the same as with salmon, No. 307. [Illustration: THE TROUT.]
THE TROUT.--This fish, though esteemed by the moderns for its delicacy, was little regarded by the ancients. Although it
abounded in the lakes of the Roman empire, it is generally mentioned by writers only on account of the beauty of its colours. About
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the end of September, they quit the deep water to which they had retired during the hot weather, for the purpose of spawning. This they always do on a gravelly bottom, or where gravel and sand are mixed among stones, towards the end or by the sides of streams. At this period they become black about the head and body, and become soft and unwholesome. They are never good when they are large with roe; but there are in all trout rivers some barren female fish, which continue good throughout the winter. In the common trout, the stomach is uncommonly strong and muscular, shell-fish forming a portion of the food of the animal; and it takes into its stomach gravel or small stones in order to assist in comminuting it.
BOILED TURBOT.
337. INGREDIENTS.--6 oz. of salt to each gallon of water.
Mode--Choose a middling-sized turbot; for they are invariably the most valuable: if very large, the meat will be tough and thready.
Three or four hours before dressing, soak the fish in salt and water to take off the slime; then thoroughly cleanse it, and with a
knife make an incision down the middle of the back, to prevent the skin of the belly from cracking. Rub it over with lemon, and be particular not to cut off the fins. Lay the fish in a very clean turbot-kettle, with sufficient cold water to cover it, and salt in the above proportion. Let it gradually come to a boil, and skim very carefully; keep it gently simmering, and on no account let it boil fast, as the fish would have a very unsightly appearance. When the meat separates easily from the bone, it is done; then take it out, let it drain well, and dish it on a hot napkin. Rub a little lobster spawn through a sieve, sprinkle it over the fish, and garnish with tufts of parsley and cut lemon. Lobster or shrimp sauce, and plain melted butter, should be sent to table with it. (See Coloured Plate E.)
Time.--After the water boils, about 1/2 hour for a large turbot; middling size, about 20 minutes. Average cost,--large turbot, from 10s. to 12s.; middling size, from 12s. to 15s.
Seasonable at any time.
Sufficient, 1 middling-sized turbot for 8 persons.
Note.--An amusing anecdote is related, by Miss Edgeworth, of a bishop, who, descending to his kitchen to superintend the dressing of a turbot, and discovering that his cook had stupidly cut off the fins, immediately commenced sewing them on again with his own episcopal fingers. This dignitary knew the value of a turbot's gelatinous appendages.
GARNISH FOR TURBOT OR OTHER LARGE FISH.
338. Take the crumb of a stale loaf, cut it into small pyramids with flat tops, and on the top of each pyramid, put rather more than
a tablespoonful of white of egg beaten to a stiff froth. Over this, sprinkle finely-chopped parsley and fine raspings of a dark colour. Arrange these on the napkin round the fish, one green and one brown alternately.
TO CHOOSE TURBOT.--See that it is thick, and of a yellowish white; for if of a bluish tint, it is not good. [Illustration: THE TURBOT.]
THE TURBOT.--This is the most esteemed of all our flat fish. The northern parts of the English coast, and some places off the coast of Holland, produce turbot in great abundance, and in greater excellence than any other parts of the world. The London market is chiefly supplied by Dutch fishermen, who bring to it nearly 90,000 a year. The flesh is firm, white, rich, and gelatinous, and is the better for being kept a day or two previous to cooking it. In many parts of the country, turbot and halibut are indiscriminately
sold for each other. They are, however, perfectly distinct; the upper parts of the former being marked with large, unequal, and obtuse
tubercles, while those of the other are quite smooth, and covered with oblong soft scales, which firmly adhere to the body.
[Illustration: TURBOT-KETTLE.]
FISH-KETTLES are made in an oblong form, and have two handles, with a movable bottom, pierced full of holes, on which the fish is laid, and on which it may be lifted from the water, by means of two long handles attached to each side of the movable bot-tom. This is to prevent the liability of breaking the fish, as it would necessarily be if it were cooked in a common saucepan. In the list of Messrs. Richard and John Slack (see 71), the price of two of these is set down at 10s. The turbot-kettle, as will be seen by our cut, is made differently from ordinary fish-kettles, it being less deep, whilst it is wider, and more pointed at the sides; thus exactly answering to the shape of the fish which it is intended should be boiled in it. It may be obtained from the same manufacturers, and its price is PS1.
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BAKED FILLETS OF TURBOT.
339. INGREDIENTS.--The remains of cold turbot, lobster sauce left from the preceding day, egg, and bread crumbs; cayenne and salt to taste; minced parsley, nutmeg, lemon-juice.
Mode.--After having cleared the fish from all skin and bone, divide it into square pieces of an equal size; brush them over with egg, sprinkle with bread crumbs mixed with a little minced parsley and seasoning. Lay the fillets in a baking-dish, with sufficient butter to baste with. Bake for 1/4 hour, and do not forget to keep them well moistened with the butter. Put