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HADDOCK, RECHAUFFE OF (another way.)
Take the remains of cold haddock, remove the skin and bone, and divide into flakes. Mix thoroughly a tea-spoonful of finely-minced shallots, a tea-spoonful of chopped parsley, half a tea-spoonful of salt, half a tea-spoonful of white pepper, with a pinch of finely-minced lemon-rind. Put the flakes of fish into a baking-dish, sprinkle the powder over them, and pour on three table-spoonfuls of salad-oil. Grate bread-crumbs thickly over, and bake in a moderate oven. Brown the top, if necessary, by holding a red-hot shovel or salamander over it, and squeeze the juice of a lemon over before serving. Time, three-quarters of an hour to bake. Probable cost, 4d., exclusive of the cold fish. One pound of fish is sufficient for two or three persons.
A leftovers dish, and the modern cook's chief job is to ignore the stated time. Cold cooked haddock only needs heating through and crisping on top.
- The hinge: baking timeThree-quarters of an hour will turn already-cooked flakes into dry threads. Twenty minutes in the oven, or until the crumbs colour and the dish is hot at the centre, is enough.
- Moderate ovenRead this as 350F (175C). If you want the top to brown in the same pass, finish under the broiler for a minute or two rather than lengthening the bake.
- Salamander and red-hot shovelBoth are ways of applying top heat to an already-cooked dish. A broiler set high, with the dish on an upper rack, does the same work.
- Salad-oilIn this period salad-oil usually meant olive oil, though other oils were also sold under the name. Three tablespoons over a pound of fish is generous, and it is what keeps the flakes from drying.
- Grated bread-crumbsCrumbs grated from a stale loaf, coarse and slightly uneven, not fine dried crumbs from a canister. Panko is closer in behaviour than packaged plain crumbs.
- Raw shallotA teaspoon of minced shallot scattered dry over fish will stay sharp in a twenty-minute bake. Either soften it briefly in a little of the oil first, or accept the bite.
- Which haddockThe recipe says only "cold haddock", so it may well be plain boiled or baked fresh fish. Leftover smoked haddock works too, but drop the added salt to a pinch and taste before serving.
- YieldAs stated, a pound of picked fish serves two as a light main course or three as a first course. Bake in one shallow dish rather than ramekins so the crumb layer stays proportionate.
Rìhauffé is simply French for "reheated," and Victorian cookery books carry dozens of them: the polite name for a dish built from yesterday's dinner. Cassell's gives the cost as fourpence "exclusive of the cold fish," which is the whole point of the entry, since the fish is treated as already paid for. Haddock was among the cheapest and most plentiful of British sea fish in the nineteenth century, landed in quantity at Aberdeen, Grimsby and Hull and carried inland by rail, so a household boiling a large haddock could reasonably expect leftovers. The shovel held red-hot over the crumbs is a reminder of how these kitchens worked: a coal range gave good bottom heat but generally no overhead grill, so a flat iron shovel heated in the fire, or the purpose-made salamander, supplied the browning that a modern broiler does.