To Bake Smelts

The Book of Household Management · Beeton, Mrs. (Isabella Mary) · 1861

Source: The Book of Household Management
Time: Cook: 15 min Total: 15 min
Yield: 6.0 persons
Status: success · extracted 13 days ago
Not a recipe: No

Ingredients (9)

12 smelts ↝ Fish, smelt, rainbow, raw [Finfish and Shellfish Products]
bread crumbs ↝ Bread, crumbs, dry, grated, seasoned [Baked Products]
1/4 lb. of fresh butter ↝ Butter, stick, unsalted [Dairy and Egg Products]
2 blades of pounded mace ↝ Spices, mace, ground [Spices and Herbs]
salt and cayenne to taste ↝ Salt, table, iodized [Spices and Herbs]
salt and cayenne to taste ↝ Peppers, raw, NFS [Other vegetables and combinations]
a squeeze of lemon-juice ↝ Lemon juice, raw [Fruits and Fruit Juices]
fried parsley ↝ Parsley, raw [Not included in a food category]
cut lemon ↝ Lemon, raw [Citrus fruits]

Instructions (4)

Wash, and dry the fish thoroughly in a cloth, and arrange them nicely in a flat baking-dish.
Cover them with fine bread crumbs, and place little pieces of butter all over them.
Season and bake for 15 minutes.
Just before serving, add a squeeze of lemon-juice, and garnish with fried parsley and cut lemon.

Original Text

TO BAKE SMELTS.

318. INGREDIENTS.—12 smelts, bread crumbs, 1/4 lb. of fresh butter, 2 blades of pounded mace; salt and cayenne to taste.

Mode.—Wash, and dry the fish thoroughly in a cloth, and arrange them nicely in a flat baking-dish. Cover them with fine bread crumbs, and place little pieces of butter all over them. Season and bake for 15 minutes. Just before serving, add a squeeze of lemon-juice, and garnish with fried parsley and cut lemon.

Time.—1/4 hour. Average cost, 2s. per dozen.

Seasonable from October to May.

Sufficient for 6 persons.

TO CHOOSE SMELTS.—When good, this fish is of a fine silvery appearance, and when alive, their backs are of a dark brown shade, which, after death, fades to a light fawn. They ought to have a refreshing fragrance, resembling that of a cucumber.

THE ODOUR OF THE SMELT.—This peculiarity in the smelt has been compared, by some, to the fragrance of a cucumber, and by others, to that of a violet. It is a very elegant fish, and formerly abounded in the Thames. The Atharine, or sand smelt, is sometimes sold for the true one; but it is an inferior fish, being drier in the quality of its flesh. On the south coast of England, where the true smelt is rare, it is plentiful.

Notes

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