- Soak red herrings in water until they become pretty fresh.
- Hang them up in the sun and wind, on a stick through their eyes, to dry.
- Boil or broil the dried red herrings.
Scotch Haddock preparation
- Soak Scotch haddocks all night.
- Boil or broil them.
- If you broil them, split them in two.
General dried fish preparation
- Soften and freshen all different sorts of dried fish (except stock fish), in proportion to their bulk, nature, or dryness.
- Very dry sorts, as cod and whiting, should be steeped in lukewarm water, kept as near as possible to an equal degree of heat.
- The larger fish should be steeped twelve hours, the smaller about two.
- After steeping, take them out and hang them up by the tails until they are dressed.
- This hanging allows them to soften equally without extracting too much of the relish, which would render them insipid.
Cooking small dried fish
- Flour the small fish, such as whiting and tusks, and lay them on the gridiron.
- When a little hardened on one side, turn them and baste with sweet oil upon a feather.
- When basted on both sides and well heated through, take them up.
- Use a clear charcoal fire for cooking them.
- Keep the fish at a good distance from the fire to broil gradually.
- The fish will swell a little in the basting when done enough; do not let them fall again.
Cooking larger dried fish
- If boiled, keep the larger fish just simmering over an equal fire.
- Half an hour will do the largest fish, and five minutes the smallest, when boiled.
Dried Salmon preparation
- Dried salmon does not require more steeping than a whiting.
- When laid on the gridiron, moderately pepper the dried salmon.
Broiled salt fish preparation
- For herring and all kinds of broiled salt fish, use sweet oil as the best basting.
Red Herrings, and other dried Fish,—(No. 172.)
“Should be cooked in the same manner as now practised by the poor in Scotland. They soak them in water until they become pretty fresh; they are then hung up in the sun and wind, on a stick through their eyes, to dry; and then boiled or broiled. In this way they eat almost as well as if they were new caught.” See the Hon. John Cochrane’s Seaman’s Guide, 8vo. 1797, p. 34.
“Scotch haddocks should be soaked all night. You may boil or broil them; if you broil, split them in two.
“All the different sorts of dried fish, except stock fish, are salted, dried in the sun in prepared kilns, or by the smoke of wood fires, and require to be softened and freshened, in proportion to their bulk, nature, or dryness; the very dry sort, as cod, whiting, &c. should be steeped in lukewarm water, kept as near as possible to an equal degree of heat. The larger fish should be steeped twelve hours, the smaller about two; after which they should be taken out and hung up by the tails until they are dressed. The reason for hanging them up is, that they soften equally as in the steeping, without extracting too much of the relish, which would render them insipid. When thus prepared, the small fish, as whiting, tusks, &c. should be floured and laid on the gridiron; and when a little hardened on one side, must be turned and basted with sweet oil upon a feather; and when basted on both sides, and well heated through, taken up. A clear charcoal fire is the best for cooking them, and the fish should be kept at a good distance, to broil gradually. When they are done enough they will swell a little in the basting, and you must not let them fall again. If boiled, as the larger fish generally are, they should be kept just simmering over an equal fire, in which way half an hour will do the largest fish, and five minutes the smallest.
“Dried salmon, though a large fish, does not require more steeping than a whiting; and when laid on the gridiron should be moderately peppered. To herring and to all kinds of broiled salt fish, sweet oil is the best basting.”
The above is from Macdonald’s London Family Cook, 8vo. 1808, p. 139.
Obs. Dr. Harte, in his Essay on Diet, 1633, fol. p. 91, protests, “a red herring doth nourish little, and is hard of con[187]coction, but very good to make a cup of good drink relish well, and may be well called ‘the drunkard’s delight.’”