To stew a Brace of Carp

The Art Of Cookery · Hannah Glasse · 1747
Source
The Art Of Cookery
Yield
2.0 carp
Status
success · extracted 12 days ago
Not a recipe
No
Ingredients (29)
For the carp
For the sauce
For garnish and cakes
For white sauce variation
Instructions (17)
  1. Scrape the carp very clean, then gut them, wash them and the rows in a pint of good stale beer, to preserve all the blood.
  2. Boil the carp with a little salt in the water.
  3. In the mean time drain the beer, and put it into a sauce-pan, with a pint of red wine, two or three blades of mace, some whole pepper, black and white, an onion stuck with cloves, half a nutmeg bruised, a bundle of sweet herbs, a piece of horse-radish as big as a six-pence, an anchovy, a little piece of horse-radish.
  4. Let these boil together softly for a quarter of an hour, cover'd close.
  5. Then strain it, and add to it half the hard row beat to pieces, two or three spoonfuls of catchup, a quarter of a pound of fresh butter and a spoonful of mushroom-pickle.
  6. Let it boil, and keep stirring it till the sauce is thick and enough.
  7. If it wants any salt you must put some in.
  8. Take the rest of the rows, and beat it up with the yolk of an egg, some nutmeg, and a little lemon-peel cut small.
  9. Fry them in fresh butter in little cakes.
  10. Fry some pieces of bread cut three-corner-ways and fry'd brown.
  11. When the carp is enough take them up, pour your sauce over them, lay the cakes round the dish, with horse-radish scrap'd fine, and fry'd parsley.
  12. The rest lay on the carp, and the bread stuck about them, and lay round them slices lemon notched and laid round the dish, and two or three pieces on the carp.
  13. Send it to table hot.
Notes on boiling and sauce variation
  1. The boiling of carp at all times is the best way, they eat fatter and finer.
  2. The stewing of them is no addition to the sauce, and only hardens the fish and spoils it.
  3. If you would have your sauce white, put in good fish broth instead of beer, and white wine in the room of red wine.
  4. Make your broth with any sort of fresh fish you have, and season it as you do gravy.
Original Text
To flew a Brace of Carp. SCRAPE them very clean, then gut them, wash them and the rows in a pint of good stale beer, to preserve all the blood, and boil the carp with a little salt in the water. In the mean time drain the beer, and put it into a sauce-pan, with a pint of red wine, two or three blades of mace, some whole pepper, black and white, an onion stuck with cloves, half a nutmeg bruised, a bundle of sweet herbs, a piece of horse-radish as big as a six-pence, an anchovy, a little piece of horse-radish. Let these boil together softly for a quarter of an hour, cover'd close; then strain it, and add to it half the hard row beat to pieces, two or three spoonfuls of catchup, a quarter of a pound of fresh butter and a spoonful of mushroom-pickle. Let it boil, and keep stirring it till the sauce is thick and enough; if it wants any salt you must put some in: Then take the rest of the rows, and beat it up with the yolk of an egg, some nutmeg, and a little lemon-peel cut small, fry them in fresh butter in little cakes, and some pieces of bread cut three-corner-ways and fry'd brown. When the carp is enough take them up, pour your sauce over them, lay the cakes round the dish, with horse-radish scrap'd fine, and fry'd parsley. The rest lay on the carp, and the bread stuck about them, and lay round them slices lemon notched and laid round the dish, and two or three pieces on the carp. Send it to table hot. The boiling of carp at all times is the best way, they eat fatter and finer. The stewing of them is no addition to the sauce, and only hardens the fish and spoils it. If you would have your sauce white, put in good fish broth instead of beer, and white wine in the room of red wine. Make your broth with any sort of fresh fish you have, and season it as you do gravy.
Notes
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