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Turbot, Boiled

Empty the fish, wash it inside with scrupulous nicety, then remove the scales and gills, and trim the fins, but do not cut them off, as the gelatinous parts about them are esteemed a great delicacy. Rub a little salt all over the outside of the fish--this will make the slime come off more easily, and do away with the necessity for soaking the fish. Wash it until it is as clean as possible. Dry it, and rub it with a cut lemon or a little vinegar. Draw a sharp knife just through the skin in the thickest part of the middle of the back on the dark side of the fish. This is to keep the skin from cracking on the white side. Put as much cold water as will be required to cover the fish into a turbot-kettle, and dissolve in this a little salt in the proportion of six ounces of salt to a gallon of water. Bring the water to the boil and remove the scum as it rises. Lay the turbot, white side up, on a fish-strainer, lower it into the boiling water, and draw the pan back at once and simmer the fish very gently until it is done enough. As soon as this point is reached, take it up, drain the water from it, and slip it, the white side up, upon a hot dish covered with a napkin or fishpaper. Garnish with parsley, cut lemon, and scraped horse-radish, and if it should happen unfortunately that the fish is at all cracked, lay two or three little pieces of parsley upon it, so as to cover the crack. Plain melted butter, shrimp sauce, anchovy sauce, Dutch sauce, and lobster sauce may all be served with boiled turbot. When lobster sauce is used, a little of the spawn may be rubbed through a sieve and sprinkled over the fish. Some cooks have an idea that the best parts of the fish lie in the back, therefore they dish the turbot with the dark side uppermost. However this may be, the turbot looks best with the white side on the top. It is impossible to give the exact time for boiling, as turbot varies much in thickness as well as in size. When the flesh appears to shrink from the bone it is done, and it should be carefully watched, as if it boils too long it will be broken and spoilt. Time, a moderate-sized turbot, fifteen to twenty minutes to simmer gently from the time the water boils; large, twenty to thirty-five minutes. Probable cost, uncertain.