Broiled Fish
All fish that are not too large and too thick may be broiled. They should be split down the back so they will lay open, be thoroughly cleaned and, of course, scaled, if necessary. The fish should then be brushed with melted Snowdrift, dusted with salt and pepper, then laid on a fish broiler, which has been oiled with Snowdrift. The broiler should be placed near the heat for a few moments, to quickly sear the fish, when it should be cooked more gently, being turned occasionally from side to side, until done. It will take about twenty minutes for a fish weighing a pound and a half.
Slices of Halibut, Haddock, Cod, Salmon, Bluefish-in other words, nearly all fish which are too large to be broiled whole are well adapted to this method of cookery. The fish may be accompanied by Hollandaise Sauce, Tomato Sauce, Cheese Sauce, Russian Hollandaise Sauce, Horseradish Hollandaise Sauce, or Savory Egg Sauce.
A method rather than a formula, written for a coal or gas range with a hinged wire fish broiler and a brand of vegetable shortening the book was published to sell. The technique translates cleanly to a modern broiler or grill.
- SnowdriftA cottonseed-oil shortening sold in the United States from around the turn of the twentieth century; later versions were hydrogenated. The book appears to be a manufacturer's promotional cookbook, which is why the brand is named in every line. Any neutral high-smoke-point fat works — clarified butter, refined oil, or a modern all-vegetable shortening.
- The fish broilerA hinged double wire rack that clamped the fish so it could be flipped whole without breaking. A fish-shaped grill basket does the same job; on an oven broiler pan, use a well-oiled rack and a wide spatula instead.
- Heat"Near the heat for a few moments" means direct high heat to set and colour the surface; under a modern broiler element that is roughly a hand's span away, on high. "Cooked more gently" means moving the rack further from the element or reducing the flame.
- Twenty minutes is longThat figure assumes a whole 1½ lb fish split open over the moderate, variable heat of a period range. Under a modern broiler, most split fish and steaks are done in roughly 8–12 minutes total; fillets in 5–8. Cook to an opaque, just-flaking centre rather than to the clock.
- TurningTurning "occasionally from side to side" suits a caged whole fish. Steaks and thick fillets do better with a single turn, or none at all if skin-side down under the broiler — repeated handling is what breaks the flesh apart.
- Splitting down the backButterflying through the backbone rather than the belly gives a flatter fish that lies open on the rack. Ask a fishmonger for it, or run a knife along either side of the spine and lift the bone out.
- The fish namedCod and haddock are now usually sold as fillets rather than steaks, though halibut steaks are still common; bluefish is oily and strongly flavoured and stands up well to charring. Any of these benefits from being salted 15 minutes ahead and patted dry before oiling.
- SaucesMost of the six suggestions are rich and butter- or egg-based, which suggests the book had a lean fish in mind. With salmon or bluefish, a lemon wedge or the tomato sauce is the better match.
This page comes from a corporate cookbook — Snowdrift was a cottonseed-oil shortening marketed in the United States in the early twentieth century, and books like this one were produced to teach cooks to reach for a tin of vegetable fat where they had reached for butter, lard or drippings. Cottonseed oil had been a waste product of the cotton industry until refiners found a market for it in the late nineteenth century, and hydrogenation made it solid, shelf-stable and cheap. The instruction to brush the fish and oil the broiler with Snowdrift is doing double duty: it is sound broiling practice, since fat is what keeps lean flesh from welding itself to hot wire, and it is also an advertisement. The hinged fish broiler was a versatile tool, used over or in front of live coals as well as with gas broilers; the recipe itself names no heat source, and the long twenty-minute timing may simply reflect the gentler, more variable heat cooks were working with.