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Flounders, Boiled
Lay the fish in a kettle, with salt and boiling water in the proportion of six ounces to each gallon, and a little vinegar. Let the water boil up again, and then remove it to the side to simmer till the contents are done. The fish must not boil fast, or they will break. Time to simmer, ten to fifteen minutes. Probable cost of flounders, from 6d. to 1s.
A bare-bones Victorian method for whole flat fish, useful once you translate the brine and correct the timing.
- The hinge: never let it boilFlounder is thin and delicate, and fast-moving water tears the flesh from the bones. Bring the pan to a boil, slide the fish in, then pull it to the edge of the heat so the surface only shivers.
- The salt ratioSix ounces per gallon is roughly two-thirds of a cup of table salt in about 4.5 litres — somewhere near a 4 percent brine, which is aggressive by current taste. Half that seasons the fish perfectly well.
- Why the vinegarA tablespoon or two of white wine vinegar per gallon helps firm the surface and keeps the flesh white rather than grey. At that dilution it is there for texture and colour more than flavour.
- TimingTen to fifteen minutes suits a large whole flounder of a pound or more. A small whole fish is done in 6 to 8 minutes, and skinless fillets in 3 to 4. Test by lifting the flesh at the thickest point near the head: it should part cleanly from the bone.
- The kettleA "kettle" here is a fish kettle — a long lidded pan with a perforated lifting tray. A wide sauté pan or roasting tin on the hob does the same job; lower the fish on a sling of doubled foil or muslin so it can be lifted out whole.
- Prep the book assumesTrim the fins, remove the gills and guts, and score the dark skin twice across the thickest part so it does not curl and drag.
- Yield and servingOne whole flounder of about a pound per person. Boiled flat fish is thin eating on its own: serve it with melted butter, an anchovy or shrimp sauce, or parsley butter, plus plain boiled potatoes.
- The price note"6d. to 1s." is sixpence to a shilling in pre-decimal British currency, a period market indication with no modern equivalent.
Cassell's belongs to the era when boiling — really poaching — was the default treatment for any white fish reaching a British kitchen, and the dictionary format meant each entry could be reduced to a few lines because the technique was assumed knowledge. Flounder was a cheap inshore catch, landed all round the coast and hawked in city streets, which is why the entry bothers to quote a price range at the bottom: readers used these books to judge whether the fishmonger was fair. The salted, slightly acidulated water is an older piece of practice than the book itself, and it survived in English cookery long after refrigeration made it unnecessary. The warning that the fish "must not boil fast, or they will break" is the single line of real instruction here, and it is the same advice a modern chef gives about poaching flat fish.