BAKED WHITE HERRINGS.

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

Source: The Book of Household Management
Time: Cook: 30 min Total: 30 min
Status: success · extracted 13 days ago
Not a recipe: No

Ingredients (8)

12 herrings ↝ Fish, herring, Atlantic, raw [Finfish and Shellfish Products]
4 bay-leaves ↝ Spices, bay leaf [Spices and Herbs]
12 cloves ↝ Garlic, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]
12 allspice ↝ Spices, allspice, ground [Spices and Herbs]
2 small blades of mace ↝ Spices, mace, ground [Spices and Herbs]
cayenne pepper and salt to taste ↝ Spices, pepper, red or cayenne [Spices and Herbs]
cayenne pepper and salt to taste ↝ Salt, table, iodized [Spices and Herbs]
sufficient vinegar to fill up the dish ↝ Vinegar [Mustard and other condiments]

Instructions (4)

Take the herrings, cut off the heads, and gut them.
Put them in a pie-dish, heads and tails alternately, and, between each layer, sprinkle over the above ingredients.
Cover the fish with the vinegar, and bake for 1/2 hour, but do not use it till quite cold.
The herrings may be cut down the front, the backbone taken out, and closed again.

Original Text

BAKED WHITE HERRINGS.

268. INGREDIENTS.—12 herrings, 4 bay-leaves, 12 cloves, 12 allspice, 2 small blades of mace, cayenne pepper and salt to taste, sufficient vinegar to fill up the dish.

Mode.—Take the herrings, cut off the heads, and gut them. Put them in a pie-dish, heads and tails alternately, and, between each layer, sprinkle over the above ingredients. Cover the fish with the vinegar, and bake for 1/2 hour, but do not use it till quite cold. The herrings may be cut down the front, the backbone taken out, and closed again. Sprats done in this way are very delicious.

Time.—1/2 an hour.

Average cost, 1d. each.

TO CHOOSE THE HERRING.—The more scales this fish has, the surer the sign of its freshness. It should also have a bright and silvery look; but if red about the head, it is a sign that it has been dead for some time.

[Illustration: THE HERRING.]

THE HERRING.—The herring tribe are found in the greatest abundance in the highest northern latitudes, where they find a quiet retreat, and security from their numerous enemies. Here they multiply beyond expression, and, in shoals, come forth from their icy region to visit other portions of the great deep. In June they are found about Shetland, whence they proceed down to the Orkneys, where they divide, and surround the islands of Great Britain and Ireland. The principal British herring-fisheries are off the Scotch and Norfolk coasts; and the fishing is always carried on by means of nets, which are usually laid at night; for, if stretched by day, they are supposed to frighten the fish away. The moment the herring is taken out of the water it dies. Hence the origin of the common saying, "dead as a herring."

Notes

—