Home › The Principles of Cookery › Sturgeon, Roasted

Sturgeon, Roasted

Take a piece of sturgeon cut from the middle of a good-sized fish. Cleanse thoroughly, and skin it, season with salt and pepper, and tie thin slices of fat bacon round it. Take a piece of writing-paper large enough to cover the fish entirely. Butter it thickly, and spread over it sliced carrots and onions with a small quantity of powdered sweet herbs, and wrap the fish in it. Tie two more sheets of buttered paper upon it, bind securely with tape, and put the sturgeon in a cradle-spit, or tie it to an ordinary spit, and roast before a clear fire. When done enough take it down, pour a little matelote sauce over it, and send more to table in a tureen. The sauce may be made as follows. Put half a pint of good brown sauce into a saucepan with eighteen fried button onions, the same number of small mushrooms, and a glassful of claret. Boil all gently together for ten minutes. Add a pinch of pepper, a little grated nutmeg, a small lump of sugar, and a few drops of essence of anchovy. When the ingredients are thoroughly mixed, take the sauce off the fire, stir into it until dissolved a small lump of butter, and it will be ready for serving. Time, according to age and size.