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Kedgeree
Kedgeree, or kidgeree, is an Indian dish, generally used for breakfast; it may be made of the cooked remains of such fish as turbot, salmon, brill, soles, John Dory, whiting, and shrimps. Boil three-quarters of a pound of rice in the same way as for curry. When soft and dry, put it into a saucepan, first with two ounces of butter, and afterwards with a quarter of a pound of the flesh of the fish, freed from skin and bone, and divided into small pieces. Season with cayenne, salt, and pepper--as much as may be required. Stir the kedgeree over the fire until quite hot, then add two well-beaten eggs, mix thoroughly, and serve at once. Time, until very hot, without boiling. Probable cost, 1s. Sufficient for half a dozen persons.
A leftovers dish from the Anglo-Indian breakfast table, and one that stands or falls on the state of the rice. Cassell's assumes you have cooked fish in the larder and a cook who knows what "boiled as for curry" means.
- The hinge: keep it below a simmer"Time, until very hot, without boiling" is the whole instruction. Once the beaten egg goes in, work over low heat and keep stirring so it coats the grains as a glaze rather than setting into curds. Take the pan off the heat while it still looks slightly loose.
- Rice "in the same way as for curry"That means plain, well-salted, boiled in plenty of water, drained and dried out so the grains stay separate — no stock, no aromatics. Basmati suits it. Rice cooked the day before and chilled behaves best here, as it resists turning to paste when stirred with butter.
- Quantities in modern termsThree-quarters of a pound of rice is about 1 3/4 cups dry, which yields a great deal of cooked rice; 2 oz butter is 4 tablespoons.
- More fish than statedA quarter of a pound of fish to three-quarters of a pound of rice is a Victorian economy ratio, and it tastes like seasoned rice with fish in it. Half a pound to a pound of flaked cooked fish gives the balance a modern cook expects.
- Choosing the fishTurbot, brill and John Dory are expensive or scarce now; salmon, haddock, cod or whiting all work, and shrimp can be stirred in at the end. Smoked haddock, the standard in later British kedgeree, is not in this version but is an easy substitution — reduce the added salt if you use it.
- The eggsTwo beaten eggs are stirred in here as a binder; versions finishing with quartered hard-boiled egg on top also exist, and this recipe does not use them. Because the egg is set gently in warm rice rather than fully cooked, use very fresh or pasteurized eggs if serving anyone vulnerable.
- SeasoningCayenne, salt and pepper are the only spices given, so the dish is mild and buttery rather than curried. A teaspoon of mild curry powder bloomed in the butter is a legitimate period-adjacent addition if you want the flavour most people now associate with kedgeree.
- Leftover fish"The cooked remains" presupposes a cold larder. Use fish that has been refrigerated no more than a day or two, and serve the kedgeree straight from the pan rather than holding it warm.
- YieldSix as written, and it is a breakfast portion. As a supper dish with the fish increased, it feeds four generously.
The name comes from khichri, the South Asian dish of rice cooked with pulses — usually lentils and often no fish at all — which British households in India reworked into a breakfast of rice, flaked fish, egg and butter. It travelled home with returning officials and settled onto the Victorian and Edwardian breakfast sideboard, where chafing dishes of hot food stood ready for whoever came down first, and where a dish built from yesterday's boiled turbot was doubly welcome. As written here it is not a set piece but a method for using up cooked fish, in the same family as fish cakes and fish pie. The smoked haddock version most people now think of as kedgeree became standard later; here the fish is simply whatever the previous day's dinner left behind.