Boiled Turbot

The Book of Household Management · Beeton, Mrs. (Isabella Mary) · 1861
Source
The Book of Household Management
Yield
8.0 persons
Status
success · extracted 13 days ago
Not a recipe
No
Ingredients (13)
For boiling the turbot
For preparing the fish
For garnish
To serve with
Garnish for Turbot or other large fish
Instructions (14)
  1. Choose a middling-sized turbot; for they are invariably the most valuable: if very large, the meat will be tough and thready.
  2. Three or four hours before dressing, soak the fish in salt and water to take off the slime.
  3. 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.
  4. Rub it over with lemon, and be particular not to cut off the fins.
  5. Lay the fish in a very clean turbot-kettle, with sufficient cold water to cover it, and salt in the above proportion.
  6. 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.
  7. When the meat separates easily from the bone, it is done.
  8. Then take it out, let it drain well, and dish it on a hot napkin.
  9. Rub a little lobster spawn through a sieve, sprinkle it over the fish, and garnish with tufts of parsley and cut lemon.
  10. Lobster or shrimp sauce, and plain melted butter, should be sent to table with it.
Garnish for Turbot or other large fish
  1. Take the crumb of a stale loaf, cut it into small pyramids with flat tops.
  2. On the top of each pyramid, put rather more than a tablespoonful of white of egg beaten to a stiff froth.
  3. Over this, sprinkle finely-chopped parsley and fine raspings of a dark colour.
  4. Arrange these on the napkin round the fish, one green and one brown alternately.
Original Text
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 bottom. 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 £1.
Notes
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