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Pickle for Fish
Mix together a quart of vinegar, an ounce of salt, half a table-spoonful of scraped horse-radish, half a dozen cloves, the same of allspice, two bay-leaves, half a tea-spoonful of celery-seed, and a sprinkling of cayenne and whole black pepper. Bring to a boil. Wash any kind of fish as for boiling, and trim neatly. Cut it up, and pack it in a stone jar; pour enough of the pickle over to cover it, tie the jar down, and cook it in a very slow oven until done. Let it remain in a cool place to get cold before removing the cover. This is excellent for salads, or may be sent to table with any suitable cold sauce.
This is a soused fish — cooked and kept in its own spiced vinegar rather than boiled and dressed. The method is sound, but the original assumes an imperial measure, a coal range cooling overnight, and a larder rather than a refrigerator.
- The hinge: keep the fish coveredThe vinegar has to stand above the fish for the whole cooking and cooling period. Any piece left proud of the liquid dries, discolours and spoils first; add more hot vinegar rather than letting the level drop.
- Imperial quartAn imperial quart is 40 fl oz, roughly 4¾ US cups (about 1.1 litres). Use ordinary 5 percent malt or cider vinegar undiluted — the acidity is what makes the dish keep at all.
- An ounce of saltAbout a tablespoon and a half of fine salt, or two of coarse. It reads as a lot for a quart, but the fish absorbs much of it and the brine is not eaten.
- A very slow ovenRoughly 250-300F (120-150C). Allow 30-45 minutes for cutlets or small whole fish; the flesh should flake cleanly from the bone, and 145F internal is the modern safe figure. Long slow cooking in vinegar will also tend to soften small bones, which is no bad thing with herring.
- The stone jarA glazed earthenware crock. A deep casserole dish, a Pyrex loaf dish or a wide-mouth canning jar standing in a water bath all work; avoid bare aluminium or cast iron, which the vinegar will attack and blacken.
- "Tie the jar down"This means a cloth or paper cover tied at the neck, not a sealed lid. Keep it that way — cover loosely with a plate or foil so steam escapes rather than building pressure.
- Which fishThe recipe says any kind of fish; oily fish such as herring, mackerel, sprats and small trout are the usual choice for a souse, and lean white fish can turn woolly in strong vinegar. "Wash as for boiling" means gutted, scaled, fins and gills removed.
- StorageThis is a fresh pickle, not a preserve. Refrigerate once cold and eat within a week; do not seal it airtight and leave it at room temperature.
- YieldA quart of pickle covers roughly 2 lb of cut fish, enough for six as a salad or cold first course.
Soused fish of this kind was the standard English answer to a glut of herring or mackerel, both cheap and both quick to spoil: cooking the fish slowly in spiced vinegar in a covered crock both cooked and preserved it in one operation. The spicing here — cloves, allspice, bay, black pepper — is the classic British pickling mixture, with horseradish and celery seed as a slightly grander touch typical of Cassell's. Related techniques appear across Europe under other names, such as the escabeche of Spain and Portugal, generally traced to the medieval practice of preserving fried or poached fish in vinegar. The note that it is "excellent for salads" reflects the late-Victorian cold table, where a dish like this could be made a day ahead and sent up with mayonnaise or a sharp cold sauce.