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Sturgeon, Stewed
Take two pounds of sturgeon cut into slices an inch thick. Soak these in strong vinegar for five minutes, drain them, dry them in a cloth, dip them in flour, and fry them in hot fat till they are lightly browned on both sides. Take as much good, nicely-flavoured veal stock as will barely cover the fish, throw into a large glassful of Madeira, cover the saucepan closely, and simmer the fish gently for an hour. Put the slices on a dish, throw a spoonful of capers upon them, pour the sauce round them, and serve. Time to fry the slices, ten minutes; to simmer them, one hour.
A straightforward braise from the era when sturgeon was cheap enough to treat like veal. Two things need attention: where the fish comes from, and how long it stays on the heat.
- The hinge: forget the hourSturgeon is dense and meaty, which is why old books braise it like a cut of veal, but an hour of simmering leaves it dry and stringy. Slices an inch thick need roughly 10-15 minutes in barely-trembling stock, until the centre is just opaque. Reduce the sauce separately if it needs concentrating.
- Sourcing the fishAll sturgeon species are listed under CITES, and trade in wild-caught sturgeon is tightly restricted; the sturgeon on sale today is overwhelmingly farmed, largely by caviar producers, and that is what this recipe should be made with. Swordfish, halibut cheeks or thick monkfish behave similarly in the pan.
- "A large glassful" of MadeiraA wine glass is conventionally reckoned at about 2 fl oz, so a "large glassful" is perhaps twice that: allow 1/3 to 1/2 cup. Use a dry or medium Madeira such as Sercial or Verdelho; cream Madeira will make the sauce cloying.
- The vinegar soakFive minutes in strong vinegar firms the surface and cuts the faint muddiness older sturgeon could carry. With farmed fish it is optional, but it does help the flour coat adhere. Dry the slices thoroughly or they will steam rather than brown.
- Veal stockA light veal stock is the point of the dish, giving body without fish flavour; a good chicken stock is the nearest substitute. Avoid fish stock here, which pushes the sauce in a different direction entirely.
- FryingTen minutes of frying is for colour only, in fat hot enough to brown at once. If the slices cook through in the pan, cut the braise back to a few minutes of warming in the sauce.
- Capers and finishingRinse brined capers, or soak salted ones, before scattering them over. A squeeze of lemon and a knob of butter whisked into the reduced sauce off the heat brings it together.
- YieldTwo pounds of fish serves four as a main course, three if the slices are generous. Plain boiled potatoes or rice absorb the Madeira sauce well.
Sturgeon appears throughout nineteenth-century English cookery as a fish treated like meat: firm, close-grained, sold in cutlets, and routinely paired with veal stock, wine and forcemeat rather than the delicate court-bouillons given to sole or turbot. In England it carried the further distinction of being a royal fish, a status traditionally traced to a medieval statute reserving stranded sturgeon and whales for the Crown. Recipes like this one belong to a period when both sturgeon and its roe were abundant enough to be everyday luxuries; by the late twentieth century overfishing and dammed spawning rivers had collapsed the wild stocks, and every species is now under international trade protection. The Madeira and capers here are the standard nineteenth-century signature for a rich braised fish or a made dish of veal.