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Gravy for Fish Pies, Etc
Take any common fish that you may have, or can easily obtain, such as eels, flounders, or pike, or a mixture of one or two kinds. Cut them into small pieces, and put them into a stewpan. To two pounds of fish put a pint and a half of water, a little pepper and salt, two or three bunches of parsley, a sprig of marjoram, and the same of thyme, a blade of mace, and a crust of bread, toasted till brown and hard. Simmer gently for an hour or more, then strain; thicken the gravy with a little flour and butter, and a tea-spoonful of anchovy essence, or two or three anchovies pounded. If brown gravy is wanted, the fish must be fried before it is stewed. The probable cost depends upon the price of the fish, which is very fluctuating. Sufficient for a little more than a pint of gravy.
This is a fish stock finished as a light sauce, meant to moisten a fish pie or pad out a stew. Two things matter most: don't simmer it as long as the book says, and hold back on salt until the anchovy is in.
- Simmering timeAn hour or more will pull bitterness and glue-like texture out of fish bones and skin. Modern practice is 20 to 30 minutes for fish stock, after which nothing more is gained and the flavour begins to turn muddy. Strain as soon as the liquid tastes of fish.
- The fishEel and pike are freshwater fish a Victorian cook could buy cheaply; neither is common at a fishmonger now. Use trimmings from any lean white fish / cod, haddock, whiting, plaice frames and heads, well rinsed. Avoid oily fish such as salmon or mackerel, which make a heavy, greasy stock.
- QuantitiesTwo pounds of fish to a pint and a half of water is about 900 g to 850 ml. It reduces to "a little more than a pint," roughly 600 ml, which will sauce a pie for four to six.
- Blade of maceA whole piece of the lacy outer covering of nutmeg, sold as blade mace in some spice shops. A quarter teaspoon of ground mace is the nearest substitute, added at the end so it does not turn dusty.
- Bunches of parsleyGenuinely vague; the size of a "bunch" was not standardised. Two or three good handfuls of stalks, tied with the thyme and marjoram, gets the intended effect without inventing a number.
- The toasted crustNot a thickener but a colouring and flavouring agent, the same trick used in old brown soups. Toast the bread until genuinely dark and dry, short of black / burnt bread turns the whole pan acrid.
- Thickening"A little flour and butter" means beurre manié or a light roux. For a pint of gravy, 15 g each of butter and flour gives a sauce that coats a spoon; whisk it in off the boil and simmer two minutes to cook out the raw flour.
- Anchovy and saltAnchovy essence still exists; anchovy fillets mashed to a paste do the same job. Both are very salty, so season the finished gravy rather than the stock.
- Brown versionFrying the fish first, as directed, means browning the pieces in a little butter or dripping until the pan colours, then adding the water. Deglaze the pan properly or the best of the flavour stays stuck to it.
Cassell's treats gravy as a working stock rather than a meat juice: a cheap liquid made from whatever was to hand, thickened and seasoned to be poured into pies, stews and made dishes. Fish pie in this period often meant cooked flakes of fish under a crust or potato, and it needed moistening, so a fish-based gravy was the obvious economy / nothing bought specially, only "any common fish that you may have." Eels and pike appear because both were still ordinary market fish in Britain, eels especially in London, where eel and pie shops were a fixture. The toasted crust for colour and the pounded anchovy for depth are both older tricks, common in eighteenth-century English cookery and still standard here; anchovy essence was among the earliest commercially bottled flavourings and by the later nineteenth century a store-cupboard staple. The refusal to name a price / "the price of the fish, which is very fluctuating" / is itself period detail, from a book that otherwise costs almost every recipe to the penny.