Home › The Principles of Cookery › Trout, Collared
Trout, Collared
Wash, empty, and dry the trout. Cut off the heads, split the fish open, and take out the bones. Sprinkle a little pepper, salt, and powdered mace over the inside of each trout, roll up separately, and tie with a little cotton. Lay the fish side by side in a baking-dish, pour over them equal parts of beer and vinegar sufficient to cover them, and put two or three bay-leaves, and a dozen peppercorns or more into the liquor. Tie a sheet of buttered paper over the dish, and bake the trout in a moderate oven. When they are half done, turn them over that they may be equally cooked all through, and baste them once or twice with the liquor. Time to bake, one hour.
A Victorian collar: boned fish rolled, baked in a spiced beer-and-vinegar pickle, and usually eaten cold in its liquor. Two things need adjusting — the oven figure the book leaves vague, and the hour of baking, which is far more than a rolled trout fillet wants.
- Oven temperatureThe book only says "a moderate oven"; no temperatures are given anywhere. Modern equivalents for a moderate oven run about 350-375F (175-190C). The dish is effectively braising in liquid under a paper lid, so the heat is gentle regardless.
- TimingOne hour will reduce small trout to threads. Rolls from fish of 8-12 oz each are done in 25-35 minutes at 350F, or when the centre of the roll reaches 145F (63C). Larger rolls from a 2 lb fish may take 45 minutes. Turn them at the halfway point as directed.
- The cotton"Tie with a little cotton" means cotton thread or fine twine; period kitchens used both. Cotton kitchen twine is easiest to handle and less likely to cut into the flesh. Two loops per roll is enough, and remove them before serving.
- Which beerTable or small beer was weak and, at least in the domestic sort, not aggressively bitter. A modern IPA or a heavily roasted stout will turn the liquor bitter or sooty; use a mild ale, a bitter, or a light lager. Malt vinegar was the ordinary English vinegar and is the safest partner here.
- MaceMace is the outer lace of the nutmeg, warmer and less sweet than the seed. Ground mace is sold in most spice ranges; if you substitute nutmeg use about half as much.
- Buttered paperA sheet of buttered baking parchment tied or crimped over the dish does the job of the original — it holds steam without sealing hard, so the liquor still reduces a little. Foil works but keeps the fish paler.
- Serving and yieldAllow one boned, rolled trout per person. Collared fish is best cold, left in its liquor overnight in the refrigerator and lifted out with a little of the strained pickle spooned over, with brown bread and butter.
- This is not a preserveThe beer and vinegar bath flavours and lightly acidifies, but it is not a cure. Keep the trout refrigerated and eat within two or three days; do not store it at room temperature as the original larder practice would allow.
To "collar" meat or fish is to bone it, season the inside, roll it into a tight cylinder and cook it in a spiced liquor; the name is usually explained either by the binding of the roll or by the collar-shaped slice the cold roll gives when cut across, though the derivation is traditional rather than documented. English cookery books applied it to brawn, to breast of veal, to eels and to salmon long before this one, and the technique had a practical point in a house without refrigeration: the vinegar, spice and close-tied roll all slowed spoilage, and the fish could be brought to table cold over several days. Beer as the braising liquid was ordinary rather than luxurious, since small beer was a household staple and cost less than wine.