Curried Cod
2 lbs. cod 1/4 cupful Crisco 2 cupfuls white stock 1 tablespoonful flour 2 teaspoonfuls curry powder 1 medium-sized onion 1 tablespoonful lemon juice Salt, pepper, and red pepper to taste 2 cupfuls plain boiled rice 2 tablespoonfuls chopped cocoanut Wash and dry the cod, and cut into pieces two inches square. Melt Crisco in a saucepan, fry cod lightly in it, then take out and set aside. Add sliced onion, flour, and curry powder to the Crisco in saucepan and fry ten minutes, stirring continuously to prevent onion becoming too brown, then stir in the stock and cocoanut, stir until it boils, and afterwards simmer for twenty minutes. Strain and return to saucepan, add lemon juice and seasonings to taste, bring nearly to boil, then put in fish, cover closely, and cook slowly for half hour. An occasional stir must be given to prevent the fish sticking to the bottom of the saucepan. Turn out on hot platter and serve with rice. The remains of cold fish may be used, in which case the preliminary frying may be omitted.
A Crisco-company curry from the era when Anglo-Indian fish curry was standard English household fare. The sauce technique holds up; the fish timing does not.
- The half-hour simmerTwo-inch pieces of cod are cooked through in 8 to 10 minutes in barely simmering sauce, and they will fall to shreds long before thirty minutes are up. Slide the fish in, cover, cook until it flakes, and stop. If you also fry it first as directed, cut the poaching time further.
- CriscoThe book exists to sell it. Any neutral fat works; 1/4 cup of butter or ghee suits the spices better, and clarified butter tolerates the ten-minute onion fry without browning.
- White stockAn unbrowned stock made from veal or chicken bones and aromatics. Light chicken stock is the direct substitute; fish stock makes a more focused curry, though it was not what the author meant.
- CocoanutProbably desiccated shredded coconut, though 'chopped' may equally mean fresh; either way it is simmered for flavour and then caught by the strainer along with the onion. Avoid modern sweetened flake coconut, which will make the dish cloying.
- Frying the curry powderTen minutes of cooking the flour, onion and curry powder in fat is the hinge of the recipe. Commercial curry powder tastes raw and dusty otherwise, and the constant stirring matters because scorched turmeric and fenugreek turn bitter.
- Red pepperCayenne. It is listed separately from the curry powder, so the recipe assumes the blend will not supply enough heat on its own; taste your own before adding any.
- StrainingThe sauce is passed and the solids thrown away, leaving a thin, smooth gravy rather than a chunky curry. If you would rather keep the onion, chop it fine and skip the strainer, accepting a heavier texture.
- YieldTwo pounds of cod with two cups of rice serves four generously.
A Calendar of Dinners was written by Marion Harris Neil and published by Procter & Gamble to promote Crisco, the hydrogenated cottonseed shortening introduced in 1911; the recipes are built around the product, which is why a fish curry begins with a quarter cup of shortening rather than butter or ghee. The dish itself belongs to the long Anglo-Indian tradition that carried curry into British and American middle-class kitchens through commercial curry powder, boiled rice and a flour-thickened gravy strained smooth in the manner of a French sauce. Cod was cheap and plentiful in the North Atlantic trade, and curry was widely understood as a way to use up cold cooked fish, which the recipe acknowledges in its closing line.